


Calemine

by Professor Muscovite (floramei)



Series: Calemine: The Movie: The Game: The Movie [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, also just pretty sad. don't come here looking for a happy ending. you've been warned., also this romance is definitely a, rated t for teen mostly bc calem can't stop cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2018-09-18 17:48:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 60,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9396275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floramei/pseuds/Professor%20Muscovite
Summary: A young, battle-experienced woman- whose dress and physique often cause others to mistake her gender- travels to Kalos to challenge the Pokémon League and further study Pokémonic Geology with the regional expert, Professor Sycamore; however, Team Flare and strange feelings seem to complicate these plans... [[Calem has been genderbent, everyone else remains as they were.]]eta: alolan interlude ch 13-15eta2: T-rated until ch 20, which is The Porny Chapter, and is not plot important. Feel free to skip if you'd like.eta3: finished, and everything after ch20 is also rated T. so like. take that for what you will.





	1. Commencement

The day Calemine arrived in Kalos, it was quite sunny, with only a few clouds in the sky. She was thankful for the pleasant weather as she helped her mother's Mienfoo move boxes into the new house. It was odd to be living with her parents again--she'd been living on her own since she went to school in Unova, three or four years ago now, but her father's transfer to Unova's Kalosian military base, in Kiloude, coincided with her own desire to move here--so cutting costs seemed smart.

She hauled the last box up to a high shelf upstairs in her room--or, it would have been her room, if she'd intended to stick around--and met her mother on the stairs.

"You've a letter from the local Professor, Calem!" she said, before wrinkling her nose as she caught wind of her daughter. "But before you go anywhere, _missy_ , you've _got_ to take a shower."

Calem sighed and started to say, "Oh, come off it, I'm not that--" She'd lifted an arm to sniff at an armpit, and was cut off by her own smell. "Fine," she finished, and called over her shoulder as she went back up the stairs, "but I'm not staying the night. I've missed you guys too, but I want to get going sooner rather later."

She hurriedly got dressed afterwards and ran out of the house with a rushed "Bye!" called over her shoulder, and met two girls outside. She quickly learned they were her new neighbors, of sorts--though she explained that she wasn't planning on sticking around.

"Oh, we aren't either," said the taller, older girl--Serena, was it?--who still slightly younger than Calemine herself. "We're challenging the League too, you know. I'm a bit surprised the Professor even knew who you were, since you've just moved here." Serena hesitated, then added, "I did, too, but my mother's... well known." She waved a hand dismissively. "You, on the other hand..."

"Well, I should _hope_ he'd know who I was," Calemine replied, "seeing as I transferred here more to study under him than for the League. Put applications in for both, but yeah."

"...Applications?" Serena tilted her head curiously, as the two started to lead Calem down the path.

"Well, yeah." Calemine chuckled ruefully. "I mean, I'm pushing twenty now, it's not exactly like I've never had a chance to do this before. Everyone gets one shot free, I imagine, but you don't exactly see many people my age doing this."

The younger one, Shauna, whistled. "Dang, you _are_ old. I thought Serena and I were a bit old to be doing this at fourteen and sixteen, but like, wow."

Calemine mock-pouted. "Now that's just mean. ...Oh, hey, those guys over there are waving at us. Friends of yours?"

Serena nodded, and dragged Calemine over to the table. "This is Tierno and Trevor," Serena said, motioning to the tall, heavily built young man and the much smaller apparent-nerd in turn. "And boys, this is Calemine."

"Just call me Calem, please," she said, sitting down.

Tierno said, "Yeah, what sort of a name is Calemine, anyway?" Calem nodded and began to say something, but was interrupted by Shauna asking if they could get their Pokémon now. "All righty, then," Tierno answered, "here they are! A pokemon each for the dude and dudettes."

"Serena, Shauna, Trevor, does anyone mind if I just go ahead and take the Grass-type? I always do if I can."

Shauna and Serena both shrugged, and Trevor asked, "Why are you asking me? I already have my Pokémon, it's just you three."

Calem cocked her head. "Soo... Right." She put her hand up to her face in frustration as she said, "Tierno, you know I'm a girl, right." It wasn't a question by the tone so much as just rhetoric.

"You are? Oh, I guess that explains the name, then. Sorry dude. ...Dudette."

With a shrug, Calemine took the Pokeball with the leaf on it, and said, "To be fair, it's a silly name for a girl, too." That left Serena to take the water drop and Shauna to take the flame--who asked as she did so, "You seriously didn't notice? Jeeze, you guys are really blind sometimes."

So they spoke a bit more, and eventually set off--Calem with her new Chespin, Ironbark, by her side.


	2. Competition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calem meets Sycamore and also she's an ass.

Very little of note happened to Calemine for a while. There were a few rival battles between the girls, but as their Pokémon's first ever battles, it was rather anticlimactic, truth be told.

Shortly after leaving Aquacorde, she took it upon herself to try to explain to Serena and Shauna how to catch a Pokémon--Shauna was quite thankful, but Calem realized halfway through her explanation that Serena was only one Pokémon shy of a full team already. Later, Calem felt a strong sense of déjà vu in Santalune Forest, only to realize how similar it was to Viridian's own forest when she was accosted by a Pikachu. The paths even seemed mostly familiar, so she only had to spend a single night camping in those woods before she reached the exit.

She waited for her new, younger friends--even Tierno and Trevor were only fifteen and seventeen, to Calem's chagrin--to meet up again at the end of the forest, at which point they all spoke more, but Calem found it hard to match their enthusiasm and began to lag behind.

Somehow, she was still the first of the three girls to challenge the gym; she suspected it might have to do with the fact that the local boutique had many more things for dressier girls than understated folks, though there were plenty of other distractions in the town for new challengers to occupy themselves with. Calem, however, made a beeline to the gym, pardon the pun. Without much ado, she carved her name into the winner's plate on a statue in the anteroom with the Bug Badge in her newest badge case, and was leaving just as Serena and Shauna came in together.

"You've already won?" Serena gasped. "That's not fair. We're supposed to be doing this thing _together_."

Calemine shrugged. "I hope you girls enjoy this, but I'm really in it more for the money than the adventure. Well, the science too, but seeing as Sycamore didn't even deem to meet me in person..." She trailed off meaningfully, the clearly-fake grin on her face echoing the irritation in her voice.

Serena crossed her arms and grimaced at the girl opposite her. "Just because you're older doesn't make you above us, you know. And anyway, I'm pretty sure the Lab's in Lumiose-- which is the next town over, so you'll get to meet him soon enough."

With a shrug, Calem answered, "Yeah, and I know the professors are busy and all, but with his lab so far inland it's... kinda rude not to come meet me, since he had advance notice and all." She sniffed in irritation, then added, "Not as a trainer, mind you, that's common enough-- but as a potential research assistant, it's a _little bit_ on the shitty side." Serena's eyebrows rose and Shauna covered her mouth. "Right, sorry, I'm terrible at not cursing, whatever. Point is, I hope you guys have fun, but well... it's just not as exciting the, uh..." Calem stared into space as she counted off her fingers. "I don't know if this counts as the third, fourth, or fifth time around?  Indigo's fucky and all Orre ever really had was the Battle Mountain and colosseum battles... And that's only counting when I've actually been a legal trainer, not to mention how I followed popular trainers' progress and play-battled when I was too young to get a license."

Neither Serena nor Shauna seemed to know what to say. "Right, babbling, anyway," Calem said as she picked up her bag and started to leave, "I, uh... Heh, 'smell ya later,' I guess."

" _What?_ "

Calemine couldn't quite tell which girl had said that, but it didn't really matter. She tossed her chin over her shoulder and explained as she walked through the door, "Just, ah-- never mind, I thought it would be funny, since I'm clearly the asshole rival or whatever. Anyway, uh, good luck!"

The route after Santalune, Route Four--it had another name, but Calem was so used to referring to the paths between towns and cities by their official numbers that she couldn't quite remember the local names--was easy to speed through. She did just that, in fact, until she was hailed by a dark young girl and a pale young boy. Well... not really all that young--probably right around her own age, truth be told; but when she wasn't feeling incredibly old compared to other trainers, she was caught thinking of herself and anyone her age as still 'kids'.

Sina and Dexio, they were called. They told her about the new Fairy Type as if this was news--and well, it was, but Calem didn't mention that she'd read about it in science journals some months ago already. Still, she hadn't realized that there were Fairies on this very route, so was about to leave them to catch some when Sina offered to take her to the lab.

"Oh, so he still can't be assed to come meet me in person, eh?" Calem said, crossing her arms. "Well, he's made me wait, so I'll pay him the same respect." Sina's eyebrows shot up at this, and she frowned, but Calem didn't care. "Anyway, his other two 'dex holders for this year shouldn't be too far behind me. I'm gonna go get those Pokémon you told me about--thanks for the info, by the way--and then sit right on my hands until those two show up."

As Calem walked away, she could hear Sina saying presumably to Dexio, "Oh, isn't she a treasure." Calem thought the patronizing bitch was one to talk. 

What they say about 'the best laid plans' does seem to hold true often enough, but for once, there were no outside circumstances to change anything. The hours ticked by, and afternoon turned into evening as the sun set and finally, Sina and Dexio took the three trainers through the outskirts of Lumiose. They stopped in front of a very homey-looking office building, with warm-toned bricks and plenty of windows, and Sina said, "This is it! We've arrived at the Sycamore Pokémon Lab! Let's go inside, then, shall we?" Sina glanced in Calem's direction with what was probably a pointed glare, but the expression was only on Sina's face for a moment and her warmth with the other girls was quite genuine. Maybe Calem had imagined it, but if the niceties were genuine towards Calemine, that was almost worse-- that would mean Sina was one of those sanctimonious types. Ugh. 

Dexio stayed in the foyer as the four girls crowded into the elevator inside. Sina somehow managed to press a button--Calem couldn't see which, or how many there even were-and they were up and away. Seconds later the doors opened and they all spilled out of the elevator in a mess of arms and legs flailing to keep their balance. Calem heard one of them--she thought it sounded like Shauna, but she wasn't quite sure--say, "Oh no he's hot."

Calemine rolled her eyes as she hoisted her bag back up onto her shoulder, but as she looked across the lab and saw her himself, she couldn't disagree. He was quite a bit younger than most of the other professors, though not quite as young as Aurea Juniper. Professor Krane probably wasn't much older either, but she wasn't sure whether he actually counted as a full-fledged Pokémon Professor.

He was walking towards them and said joyfully, "Ah, so we finally meet! All of you, come this way, won't you?" He led them over to his desk, where he launched into a miniature speech.

Calem rolled her eyes and scoffed as he thanked them coming all the way from Vaniville town, and stopped paying much attention to his spiel for some seconds. She'd heard the same several times before. She noticed after some seconds, though, that the others were handing over their Pokédexes, so she dug hers out and did the same.

Sycamore, however, hesitated when reaching out to take it. "I don't recognize this model, did you not get a new Pokédex from one of my assistants?"

With a blink and a blush, Calem pocketed the device and got out the newest model she'd been given. "Right, sorry. That was the first 'dex I got back in Hoenn, it was just the last one I'd used recently, so I just, eh, forgot..." She held out her hand again, minus the confident flourish she'd had the first time, and the Professor took it after a moment's hesitation.

He ran all three and handed them back to their owners, at which point he finally seemed to understand. "Ah! You must be the transfer, then, oui? Why the League challenge, if I may ask? You could have just started here immediately."

Calem shrugged. "I didn't want to assume there was a position open, and this semester's internship applications had already closed-- and anyway, my field's geology. Traveling goes with that, and so does battling--I'm here to look at Mega Stones, mostly, though the fossils and any region-specific Stone evolutions are likely to play a factor into my research as well." Okay, that was probably overstating-- she was working on a thesis, of some kind, eventually. Maybe. But after that flub with the Pokédexes, seeming a bit more impressive than she was while not technically lying could at least help her save face a bit. 

"Ah, yes! I remember that now. My, in person you have quite a... _je ne sais quoi_ that I hadn't quite expected." Calem knitted her brows, unable to decide whether that was a compliment or not. "Well, as that's the case, how would you like to battle? I've some new Pokémon I've been itching to show off, and you seem like a fine candidate to do it. Shall we?"

"Honestly?" Calem answered, "I do battling, but it's... not so much my thing. I'd be willing to bet Serena'd like to, though."

As her name was mentioned, Serena stopped the fidgeting and rocking on the balls of her feet she'd been doing the past several minutes, and looked from Calemine to the Professor. "Oh, I _would_ so like to, if you don't mind?" she said, smiling nervously. Calem waved her ahead, and so the two battled.

Shauna and Calem sat back and watched the Professor slowly but surely lose to Serena's Pokémon -- she had more on her team than Sycamore did, but she only even needed to use her Frogadier and Fletchinder. Shauna was awed by the Kanto Starter-Pokémon, but Calem was rather bored. She'd been hoping they were something new. It wasn't even useful as Seen Data for her Kalos dex, since she could transfer data from her Hoenn one, which had all of the Bulbasaur line's capture data, even. Calem... _hadn't_ done that yet. But she could.

Some time into the fight, Tierno and Trevor joined them on the sidelines of the lab to watch. Trevor flinched every time an attack missed and caused some papers to be singed, or a wastebasket to spill its contents.

After not too long, though, the battle was through, and after a quick round in a healing machine, Sycamore offered the starters to each of the girls. "My apologies, though," he said as he offered them. "The choices here are not truly equal, and given Calem here is working to research, I must insist that he takes the Charmander."

All three girls were speechless for a few moments, followed by a short burst of talking over one another--and the professor's attempt to placate them--in which no one understood a single word another said. Calemine might have opted for the Charmander anyway, given she already had a grass-type and water-types were easy to find, but it was the _principle_ of the thing. And he could've had some fucking tact. 

It took a very loud beep from everyone's Holo Caster to shift the attention.

Trevor said from the side, exasperated, "Good." He huffed a sigh, and took his finger from the Caster. ...How exactly had he gotten it to do that, anyway? "Now if you'll let the Professor explain, I'm sure he has his reasons." He looked over to Sycamore, who seemed quite as startled as the rest of them.

"Ah, well, thank you, Trevor. Well, I was saying-Blastoise and Venusaur both have Mega Evolutions, but I recently discovered that Charizard has not one, but _two_ Mega Evolutions, and two different stones it may react to. I don't believe any of you can do much of anything with these stones yet, but as a future student of mine--did you say you had previous field experience, Calem?"

Calem nodded silently in response, though she still held a grimace on her face. "--and as this is the only documented case so far of branching Mega Evolutions, well... Given the trouble I've had with triggering it myself, and his field of study, I must override your personal preferences and give the Charmander to Calem. Serena and Shauna, you are free to decide among yourselves which of the other two you'd like, though." It didn't take long for the two to agree that the Bulbasaur would go to Serena and the Squirtle to Shauna.

"Yes, well, now that that's settled," Professor Sycamore said, "and that you're all here--apologies to keep you two waiting, Tierno and Trevor--I have something I'd like to say. All of you! Be the best trainer you can be. Still, though, remember to have fun traveling with your Pokémon. And all of you, not just Calem, I would like all of your help investigating Mega Evolution, a new kind of Evolution that occurs in battle." He went on to explain and describe Mega Evolution, and Calemine sat back and let her mind wander.

She'd really have to make sure to correct Sycamore's notion of her gender soon. Not that there was anything wrong with being a dude, but she wasn't, and it got a bit old that being butch meant she had to keep dealing with this drama. Calem's attention was brought back to the present, though, when she noticed her fellow trainers starting to leave. She hoisted her bag up and started to follow them, but was stopped by a touch at her shoulder. "Ah, not so fast," Professor Sycamore said as she turned around.

"Yeah?" Calem answered with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and a lightly tapping foot.

"I wanted to apologize for putting you on the spot like that. I always enlist my young trainers in helping my research, and usually, they are equally uninterested in it, unless it's something that helps them to get the edge on the League Challenge. So, as you can imagine, normally there's no harm in letting each choose their own path and making it exactly as they'd like it to be; given what I've already said about Charizard's branching Mega-Evolutionary nature, though..."

Calem shrugged, and said, "Doctor Sycamore, I get it, it's cool. Thanks. It's rather late, though, so I should _probably_ get going." The words were a bit harsher than Calemine had intended, but she wasn't particularly bothered. Somehow, though, she'd already forgotten about the gender issue so completely--aside from some extra irritation that it brought--that she didn't even have the thought that she'd forgotten to do something when she went down the elevator.

When she came out on the first floor, she saw her new friends and fellow 'Dex-holders talking to an older man with wild red hair and a very expensive looking suit. She butted in and said, "So, who's the old geezer, then?" with a joking tone and a smile on her face.

He eyed Calemine with a raised eyebrow and a frown, answering, "I am Lysandre, and you're no beauty yourself, girl." He turned his gaze from her to roam across the other four and asked, "This is the other trainer he chose, then, yes?" The others nodded affirmative, though Shauna also mentioned something along the lines of calling that unfair. Calem didn't quite catch it, as Lysandre spoke over her, "Ah, I notice you all have Holo Casters!" He started to go on about those, and Calem silently slipped out of the group, with a whispered 'be careful' to Serena.

Calemine couldn't place it, but she had a bad feeling about this man. Well, sure, the insult didn't help matters, but what was he doing talking to a gaggle of teenagers, anyway? She asked the attendant at the desk to keep an eye on the group, and stop the kids if they tried to leave with this Lysandre, and then quickly left herself.

She tried to head north from the Lab to see if she could rent a room at the famed Hotel Richissime, but found herself blocked by a construction worker--who said there was a power outage and that no one was allowed into the affected areas without good cause--so Calem shrugged and turned back.

After a quick glance behind her to the laboratory, windows lit up from the lamps inside against the cool, dark night out here, Calemine began to head west--where her map and League Guide said the next town she should visit would be.

 


	3. Coumarine

The days and nights rolled on, and Calemine progressed on her League challenge. She sent reports on what little she could find of interest while training back to Sycamore's Lab via Holocaster, but her interest in geology only coincided with the Professor's field of study where it came to Mega Evolution, and for quite a long time that was just out of the question. When she was able to finally make a report, she called and asked Sycamore to come meet her in person. She doubted he would to begin with, and he never did respond to that query, so she'd intended to send her results as usual via the Holo on the same day that he showed up.

Calemine hadn't been paying particular attention to her surroundings when she entered the tram station at the base of Coumarine's cliff, so she rather jumped when she heard someone call, "Ah, Calem!" She whipped around to find the Professor sitting on one of the benches along the wall, with a very glamorous woman with dark hair sitting next to him. He beckoned Calem over and continued, "I hear you've finally obtained everything you need for Mega Evolution--a Mega Ring for trainer, Mega Stone for Pokémon, and a strong bond between the two of you. Congratulations!"

Rubbing the back of her neck, Calem responded, "Well, given that stunt in the lab, it's not so much 'congrats' as 'everyone would have felt too guilty if anyone but me _got_ the Mega Ring,' you know. Can't we make more, or something? It's really not much use if there's really only one of us studying it."

The woman next to Sycamore chimed in here -- perhaps saving the Professor from admitting he couldn't?--saying, "So, you're Auggie's prodigal protege, then? It's nice to finally meet you, Calem. Call me Diantha" They shook hands, and the woman continued, "So, what's this about a 'strong bond'?"

Calemine rolled her eyes. She _knew_ the theory. She couldn't describe it in the detail--or with the artistic flair--that Professor Sycamore could, and Calem had half a notion that Diantha was asking on her behalf, as if Calem didn't already understand but hadn't wanted to ask for some reason. She turned to go, but she was stopped by Diantha. "Calem, don't go, I shan't take up any more of dear Augustine's time, he'll be all yours in just a moment. I've got to go, anyhow. I have a feeling I'll be seeing you soon--I battle Pokémon myself, you know."

"I...didn't know that, no," Calem said. "I don't battle a whole lot myself, though. Prize money and credit for gym badges is about my only goals, there." 

Diantha tilted her head to one side, and asked, "Really? Taking on the league at your age, I'd assumed you were entrenched in the battle scene." She shrugged lightly, then continued before Calem could defend herself, "At any rate, if you ever have the need to dress both formally and stylishly, come to me or one of my stylists in Lumiose, and make sure to give them this card," which Diantha handed to a quite stunned Calemine, "and tell them I sent you. You don't _have_ to do that, but they're rather expensive otherwise." She turned to leave the station, calling behind her, "But I've really gotta run, now. Don't forget to call me, Auggie!"

Calemine watched Diantha leave the station, then sat down with a chuckle in her throat and said, "Some girlfriend you got there, Prof."

Sycamore gave Calemine a look that was equal parts fear and disgust. "No. That--She is my sister. Please don't imply otherwise again." He chuckled and raised an eyebrow, but it seemed a little half-hearted. "When we're together people always seem to draw that conclusion, and it gets really old and, well, rather strange."

Calem nodded in agreement and said, "I know that feeling too well." It wasn't quite the same, but mostly. "Which reminds me--" Calem started to say, but Sycamore had started to speak at the same time she had, causing her to shake her head and tell him to go first.

"I was just going to say that before your report, I wanted to give you this Hidden Machine, Fly. It should be quite useful, hm?" He handed it to her and continued, "Right, so, that report. I understand it isn't anywhere near done, but tell me what you've got so far..."

In the excitement of working on something that was actually feeding into live research, Calemine forgot to see if the Professor still thought she was a dude. Well, it's not like it wasn't right there on her application; and she wasn't actually _trying_ to pass for a guy, but butch aesthetic was too good. She got on the train that evening deciding not to worry about that any longer--there's no way he could've not noticed, even as long as it had been since they'd last met in person... right?


	4. Café Lysandre

Calemine sat at a table in a very red café, wondering how someone as intelligent, as talented, and as driven as it takes to become a Regional Professor at Sycamore's age--she didn't remember the number off hand, but it couldn't be much over thirty--could also be _so incredibly dense._

Earlier, when she'd been called on her Holo by Sycamore just after defeating Clemont, she couldn't quite believe her ears. "Café Lysandre? Prof, have you _seen_ the suits that hang around there, I don't--"

"Oh, I suppose it's a bit fancy, but you'll be fine, mon amie," said Sycamore, his little hologram waving nonchalantly at nothing. "If you're that woried, though, the boutique isn't far, non? Take your time, Cale, if you must, but not too long. A plus tard, mon ami!" And the hologram had clicked off without giving Calem a chance to get a word in edgewise. She remembered thinking the professor seemed a bit off, but who was she to say--they had only spoken in person a few times, with most of their communication via text and files sent, one-way.

Of course, she didn't buy anything at the Lumiose Boutique, though she did go check it out. She was balking at the price tags visible on the window displays to begin with. While she was more likely to go for men's wear, which she thought she could see in the second story --or, wait, was that the 'first' in Kalos?--she wasn't confident that it would be much less than the fare on ground. Even so, Calemine was surprised when she entered the store and the clerk turned her out without a second glance. She wasn't very proud of the insults she flung at the poor woman, but at least no one else seemed to notice.

So she ended up just wearing the nicest thing she already had with her, and made her way to Lysandre's extremely suspicious Café in a rather wrinkly pants suit and a less than stunning necklace and bracelet pair, with a matching clip to keep her lately-rather-shaggy bangs out of her face.

There weren't too many people inside the café--and most of them did not seem particularly fancy. In fact, she didn't see a single other Team Flare member after passing the one standing outside. She rather felt overdressed, but by the time she'd decided that, she'd already seen Sycamore sharing a table with Lysandre himself--and had been seen. Lysandre even beckoned her over. So she walked and sat down at one of the chairs, and was greeted with, "Calem, mon amie, you look... strange."

Before she could answer, though, Lysandre added, "Well, this is an improvement from last time, at least, even if that necklace is... interesting."

Calem sniffed a breath, trying not to look too pained. "Well, I  _do_ apologize for being proud of my own work," she said, perhaps a bit too forcefully. Of course, admitting it was her own also meant that she didn't buy it, that she was a cheapskate and a fraud, and--

"Not too proud, I hope," Lysandre rebutted, and Calemine lost her words. Cheap, no taste, ugly, unnatural, not worth the time of day... The only thing that pulled her out of going into a full-on spiral was noticing that there was a half-empty wine bottle between the two men. 

A bit belatedly, Sycamore looked at Lysandre in surprise, and started, "You knew he was-ah..." but was glared down rather quickly by Lysandre-- Calem didn't have the energy to fo more than raise an eyebrow in his direction, not after the way her thoughts were falling, now. After a few moments of silence, Sycamore finally said,"So, you... have been a woman this entire time, oui?"

Calemine took a deep breath. "Yes. Well, 'woman' feels a little old, but... yeah, that's the right gender." She gave a lopsided grimace and shrugged. "But that's not the point. You called me here for a reason?"

Sycamore shook his head. "Non, nothing in particular. I just heard you and Lysandre were both in town, and I wanted to spend temps de qualité with mes amis, oui? You have perfect timing, even. I was just talking to Lysandre about Mega Evolution, wasn't I, Lys?"

"Yes, yes," Lysandre answered, and turned to Calem to continue, "And I wanted to cornga-- con-gra-tu-late you, as well. I hope to achieve Mega Evolution myself someday."

Calemine waited for Lysandre to say more, but after several seconds it became apparent that was all there was. "Thanks," she said, half-heartedly at best. 

"You know," Sycamore said, "Lysandre is actually of--of royal ancestry. He is, truly... a chosen one."

The two went on like that for a while--Calemine felt they were only a drink or so away from the 'I love you man' point, but they never said anything quite so funny; it was mostly just bragging about the other friend there. Calem rather felt like a third wheel, though she supposed that these two lovebirds wouldn't have an audience otherwise.

Lysandre eventually shifted into the philosophical drunk, and said some things that were very alarming to Calemine, about a legend of a king and his ultimate weapon, and stating directly that he thought it was terrible, but indirectly seemed to support it--"washed the world clean of the era's filth" were the exact words, if she recalled (and heard) that correctly.

So she sat, and stared at the King's Rock Lysandre had given her when he left. If he were just any man, that drunken ramble would mean next to nothing--but Lysandre was a powerful man, and she couldn't understand how Sycamore could sit there and just call him 'passionate'.

"Proff Suh-Sycamore," Calem started, internally cursing her low alcohol tolerance.

Sycamore put a hand out and cut her off, saying, "Call me Augustine, mon amie? At least while not in the lab?"

Calemine nodded. "Au-gush-time." Even without the drink it felt a bit weird, but oh, well. "But serioushly, your friend there needs help."

Sycamore--Augustine-- _whatever_ his name was--shrugged. "It's his way of looking at things. Of course, it's not the ONLY way to think. Calem!" She jumped at the sudden force behind his voice when he said her name. "What is truly important, now, what's important mon amie is the time you spend with others! Treasure these moments you spend traveling the Kalos region, and don't forget to take time for yourself, on occasion."

Calem raised an eyebrow. "Like you're doing, sir?"

Nodding, Sycamore replied, "Yes, just as I am. ...Well, perhaps minus the wine that was supposed to be for you, to celebrate your acceptance of your intern application by my surperiors."

Eyebrow still high, Calemine put her elbow on the table and her chin in the hand above it, asking, "Serperiors? So you've got _three_ regions' worth of Starter Pokémon now, have you?" The Professor rolled his eyes, and Calem continued, "But s-sher-sero- but really, thass awesome. Jus' kin'a wish I was making a be'er impression on my future director, or whatever."

Sycamore put his hand forward on the table and patted it lightly, saying, "Non, mon--er, ma?--chérie, I'm the one who should apologize for the impression. Lysandre and I helped ourselves to this long before you were here, this hardly counts as your party, hm? 'M afraid I cannot spare much time outside of Lumiose lately, but next time you are here, I shall treat you properly, oui? For now--for now, you may do as you wish, be it stay or go. I should be most obliged if you'd stay, though. Help me finish off the rest of the bottle, maybe? It would be shuch a shame for it to go to waste."

Calemine chose to stay, and they spoke about many things--most of which Calem had forgotten quickly, due to the wine. She smiled and laughed and did enjoy herself, though even through the haze of drink, thoughts nagged at the back of her mind.

The wine left in the bottle dwindled, a glass then another and another, Calem's foot betraying her mood as the background thoughts had less and less resistance through her drink-addled brain. 

Eventually, finally, all too soon, Sycamore tipped the wine bottle and poured the last of its contents into Calem's glass, not even filling it half way. He put a hand on hers and asked, smiling, "I have a tab here, shall we order another bottle?"

One blink from Calemine, then she retrieved her hand and turned her face away. She was enough of a shithead when she was sober, honestly... 

She turned back to Sycamore, smile newly re-pasted onto her face, and held out her wrist as if to check the time -- barely glancing at the mega ring that had replaced her watch. "My, look at the time!" she said, standing up. "You take this," she said, moving her glass closer to his side of the table, "I don't, ah, think I can finish it. I really must be going though. Smell-- no, no, _no, no,_ dumbass, not that. Ah, how about, 'au revior?' Yes, that's good. Au revoir!" And she was out of the café before Sycamore had even fully processed what happened.

To be honest, Calemine wasn't sure quite what had happened either, but she did know that she wouldn't make it anywhere alone. In a flash of red light, her new Lucario, Marius -- who'd only just joined her at the Tower of Mastery -- materialized, and helped her find her way back to the Pokémon Center to sleep.


	5. Comfort

After that merry night at the café, things were different. Technically, the news that Calemine had been officially accepted as this upcoming year's intern at the Sycamore Pokémon Laboratory didn't really feel like 'news' to her. She hadn't had to really fight for her positions for a few years, and as her recommendations list grew, it only became easier. Not... that she was doing anything vaguely related to her field of study, but internships built college credit and connections. 

But Regardless, after Calem left Lumiose heading north, things were just... different. When she had caught a Haunter--she was _fairly_ certain she'd read that Gengar was a likely candidate for Mega Evolution, at any rate--she had collected and sent off her data. It was really a very minor update, and she didn't really need to send anything quite yet. But she did, and then did something she hadn't done before--sent a call request to the Professor, rather than just a file.

Sycamore's bust appeared, tiny and made of light, hovering in the air over the screen of her Holo as she walked through the swamp. "Hm?" he said, tilting his head in surprise. "Do you miss me already, mon amie?" He was grinning, but with a slightly pained look and a definite squint, and Calemine rather thought he was feeling worse hung over than she was.

So she chuckled, but not too loudly, and responded, "Normally, I'd have some kind of witty retort..." Calem sighed. "But honestly, it's bright, I'm headachey, it's cold, I'm up to my ass in m-" The step she took just then plunged her a good foot deeper into the mud. ...Or would that be thirty centimeters, here in Kalos? Either way, she choked back a small sob and swore under her breath, continuing, "I am now _literally_ up to my ass in mud, and it would just be a lot more bearable if I could talk to someone for a bit -- and I chose you since you're the reason I'm like this." She hesitated a moment, then added, "Or, uh, are you too busy?" Of course he's too busy, half-wit. He's been busy the weeks before now, why wouldn't--

The tiny Professor shook his head, and answered, "Non, my dear. I can't well leave the laboratory today, but I don't see any reason why I can't entertain a lovely lady such as yourself while I'm here."

"Right," Calem said with a laugh she hope didn't sound as forced as it was, "a lovely lady who you had to be _told_ was even a lady in the first place." Butch aesthetic, rah rah. Still, that wasn't  _his_ fault. 

The call continued for over an hour, and the banter was witty and mock flirtatious--though most of the latter was on the Professor's part. Technically, it was several calls, given she had to turn off the Holo when she got into a battle and a few other points--but when she finished with whatever it was, she just went right back to talk to Sycamore as if nothing had happened.

That was the beginning of the first of many calls between the two as Calemine traveled. Usually, it was just to make idle chatter while in an unpleasant place, or talk about a new finding of some sort with the professor--though these were rather few and far between, without a proper field kit and research goal at the moment--but there was one odd call out that broke the pattern.

In the Pokémon center in Laverre City, Calemine sat on one of the cots available to traveling Trainers and rocked back and forth as she waited for Professor Sycamore, muttering under her breath "Please pick up, please pick up, please..."

"Allô, Cale!" came Sycamore's voice as he happily answered the call, though his face fell into a worried frown as he saw Calem's hologram--the normally bright, if often sarcastic smile replaced by an unfocused look, her normally straight and jaunty shoulders hunched and curled forward, and a slight tremor in the viewscreen which he could only assume was from her hands.

"Oh thank Arceus above. Professor, how busy are you?"

Sycamore waved a hand dismissively and said, "Ma chère, worry not. Whatever it is that worries you, I'll do my best to help."

"I just... need... to talk, I think," Calemine said. "I... Professor, I'm scared. I-I just--did you get the bulletin, a few minutes ago, about the Pokéball Factory?" The professor nodded, and Calem continued, "Th--that was Team Flare. I've seen them around, doing... Arceus knows what, but bad shit. And I just... I've seen what organized crime does. I've been around, you know?" The Professor didn't respond, so she elaborated, "Like, I remember when I was in Kanto, and I heard about Team Rocket taking over the Goldenrod Radio Tower. Or-well, just about anything in Orre. But it's just... it's just _news_. These things happen to other people, why... why am I... Shit, I'm a coward, you know that? A gigantic fucking _coward_." Calem sniffled and squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing the back of her hand over them as she talked. "I tried to help Serena oust the factory, I swear I did, but-but-but I got scared and let her do most of it. I barely got up the courage to go after her when I saw her go into a room--most of the factory's one giant hangar, right, so I was able to see her sweep the floor with the grunts. But I couldn't, I couldn't do that, and I-I was so close to bolting, to leaving Serena to her fate. It's always been the rising star trainers who finally take down these organizations, a-and... and I don't see anyone but Serena who could be that. But I- I _should_ be that. I've been around the block a few times. I'm older, I should... but I _can't_ and I'm scared..." She did say some more after that, but it was too garbled by tears to be understandable.

On the other end of the line, Professor Sycamore sat and listened to the somewhat-smaller-than-life hologram above his desk talk, saw her face turn away as she tried not to cry, saw her shoulders shake with her sobs when she finally gave in. On instinct, he put his hand out to her, but of course it just passed through the light. He said a few consoling words while she spoke, but didn't know quite what else he could do--until, some time after she finished speaking, a thought struck him. "Would you like me to Fly up there, ma chère?" In front of him, the ghostly Calem shook her head, and he continued, "It wouldn't be any trouble. I can arrange for Sina and Dexio to stand in for me for tonight, as well as Cosette, and Sophie is used to taking over the lab and directing calls to me while I'm around town." He'd stood up and was already getting his coat and things together.

Calem continued to shake her head. "No, Professor," she said, breathing somewhat more easily now, "I'm... You don't need to do that. I'm not really _fine_ but I'm well enough, I guess? Probably as good as I will be." She fished a napkin from somewhere offscreen--off holo?--and blew her nose. "Thanks a lot for the offer--I really mean it--but I all I needed was to get this off my chest, you know?"

"Are you sure?" asked Sycamore, who had stopped gathering, but was still standing up.

With a nod, Calem answered, "Yeah, I'm sure. Really, thank you, but I'll be all right. I-I'll tell you if I do feel like I need you here, but... That would need to be something pretty big, I think?" She made a noise that was somewhere between a chuckle and a sob. "I'd feel too guilty, taking you from your work, otherwise. Unless it _was_ work, but that's, you know, whatever." She took another breath. "But, uh, yeah. I'm sorry to have just sobbed to you for like, half an hour or something, holy shit. I hope you don't think less of me as a field intern or whatever for it. I just--I haven't talked to my folks about anything important in years, and I... I'm the asshole rival, I doubt the kids want to talk to me. Even if I did, I can't, they--they're younger, they... I don't think they know just how serious this stuff with Team Flare is. They haven't _seen_ the news from afar, it's still just a grand old adventure to them, you know? And while I want to warn them to be careful, I-I-I also almost feel like that outlook is what's going to keep them _alive,_ when shit starts going down. My Pokémon listen and sort of comprehend, I think, but you can never be sure and..." With an audible sigh, she concluded, "I'm rambling again, aren't I." Calem rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, leaving her gaze looking away from the viewport of her Holo Caster. "Anyway, I was trying to leave off so you could go back to your work, so I'll do that now. Thank you, Professor. Goodbye."

There was a soft click, leaving Sycamore to frown at his now-dark desk. He was worried for Calem, disappointed at the abrupt dismissal, and confused as to why he felt an vague, but strong, sense of déjà vu.


	6. Call Waiting

The mid-morning sun wasn't visible through the south-facing window behind Sycamore's desk for obvious reasons, but that just meant that he didn't have to contend with glare on his laptop's screen as he typed. To the right of his laptop, a half-full paper cup from Café Soleil sat, warm but no longer very hot; on the other side, there were various printouts from machines that the Professor occasionally shuffled through, finding a new page to reference.

A buzzing noise emanated from one of the desk drawers, making Sycamore jump a bit, before opening the drawer and retrieving the vibrating Holo Caster from inside. He smiled as he saw the digital nameplate, which read "Call waiting - Calemine," and moved his coffee cup aside to put the Caster in its place and answer. "Bonjour, ma chérie. What can I do for you?"

The hologram in front of him smiled above what looked like a set of bicycle handlebars, and responded, "Morning, Prof! I'm not gonna tie you up for very long at the moment. I've just made it to Dendemille, but I don't plan on sticking around just yet. Want to travel all the routes, you know. And, as I'm sure you know, the other end of, ahh... Brun Way the sign here says--is Lumiose. Lots of stuff to do, but it doesn't look like it's a long route. I should be there--what, day after tomorrow? If I pedal hard, maybe even tomorrow evening. Thought I'd let you know, see if maybe you were serious about that bottle of wine to celebrate my official internship position you mentioned a few weeks ago, you know. If you're too busy, that's fine too, no worries, certainly don't want to get in the way of any good science-ing you're doing. Just... thought I'd ask."

Sycamore shook his head, his stray bang bouncing in front of his face quite jauntily. "That should be no problem at all. Call again when you're closer to the city, would you? Maybe when you see the gate house, but before you've actually reached it." Calem nodded, and Sycamore continued, "Good, thank you. I should like some time to finish up whatever it is I'm doing before you arrive, so that should just give me time for that. No need to rush, though, day after next sounds fine."

With a grin, Calem nodded again and said, "Sounds good. Seeya then, Prof!" and her hologram disappeared with a click.

After the call ended, Professor Sycamore picked up an old style receiver--no viewport to the telephone at all-and dialed two numbers. "Sophie?" he asked after a moment, "I'm likely going to be away from the lab for the afternoon of the day after next, unless there's something that needs my immediate attention. Would you mind taking over while I'm out? -Good, thank you. ...No, no, it's nothing like that. Yes, well, thank you again." He hung up the phone and took a note pad out of his drawer, wrote a few words on it, peeled the top piece off of the pad, and stuck it to the corner of his laptop; then he counted something off on his fingers silently, looking up at the ceiling. He finished with a satisfied nod, and went back to work.


	7. Conversation

Calemine leaned on the wall of the gatehouse to Route Sixteen, grimacing at the creased pamphlet-map of the city she held out in front of her. After several minutes of staring, with the occasional glance above it, she finally folded it up--technically along the creases, but the pamphlet was nowhere close to the order it had been in when she'd grabbed it from the display in the gatehouse--got on her bike, and started to attempt to pedal through the crowd and across the width of North Boulevard to the apparently slightly less populated alleyway ahead, which, _hopefully,_ would lead Calemine to Jaune Plaza.

Before she made it halfway across, though, she thought she heard her name, among the din of the crowd around her. When she turned her head to look around, Calemine saw a hand waving above a head of dark and wavy hair. Sure enough, after stopping for a moment to look (people behind her be damned, there's plenty of road to use) she could see that it was Professor Sycamore. With a smirk and a roll of her eyes, Calem got off her bike and walked it backwards to the corner she'd been on before--it was rather impossible to turn a bike right around in heavy traffic, after all; it's not like you can just suddenly be facing the opposite direction without having to go through the other hundred and seventy nine or so degrees, not in real life, because this most definitely wasn't any sort of video game.

...Calemine pondered what caused her to have such an odd thought as she waited for the Professor to make it the rest of the way to her, but dropped the notion like a hot potato when he was finally close enough to talk to conversatonally, when she asked, grinning, "So, you just couldn't wait the extra--what, five minutes?--for me to drop by the lab?" She put the back of her hand to her forehead and dramatically swooned, continuing, "Oh, dear me, I seem to have accidentally stolen your heart! What ever shall I do?"

Sycamore grinned in return, but with a roll of his eyes as well. "Not quite, Calem. I had been spending time with the Pokémon in the lab--which didn't require much easing out of aside from telling Cosette to take over for me."

With a laugh and a shrug, Calemine responded, "Well, that's good to hear! My ... _debatably_ -feminine wiles shan't distract you from your research then. So, what's the plan, then, Prof?" She started to pull and twist at her bike then, gradually folding and telescoping it into a smaller package while listening and talking.

"No, no, don't call me that right now," said Sycamore with a shake of his head and wave of his hands, "save that for professional matters. I'm here as a friend, so call me Augustine."

Raising an eyebrow, Calemine answered, "All right, then... Augustine. Kinda thought you'd only said that before because you were drunk. Still doesn't answer what we're gonna do, though. I mean, it's a bit early in the day for that promised bottle of wine, so...?"

This caused Sycamore to pause, first pointing his index finger at nothing n particular, then bringing that hand to rest against his chin. "Well, yes, I suppose it is," he said. "In general, anyhow. Well, how about lunch, then?"

Calemine grinned and said, "Sounds good to me. Probably better than wine anyway--this way, we might actually _remember_ the conversation, which is a _just a bit_ useful for getting to know one another, and all." She smiled wryly at him before continuing, "So, where to?"

A dramatic shrug involving the necessary raising of Sycamore's shoulders as well as a small flourish of his hands, accompanied by a head tilt, was Calemine's answer.

Calemine huffed at him with an irritated frown, crossing her arms . "Well I'm not exactly a Lumiose native, like someone else here. At least give me some recommendations, all I really know about are the battle restaurants Le Nah and Le Yeah--which, I'd like to avoid because my Pokémon and I aren't really up for all that right now. One of the cafés would be nice, but there's _so many_ that I just haven't any idea which is which and where we might get a tasty lunch."

"Hm." Sycamore--wait, no, _Augustine_ , Calemine mentally corrected herself--put his index finger and thumb to his chin in thought. "There's only two that I go to very often. I get my morning coffee from Café Soleil, and when I get lunch there the sandwiches are quite good, though I can't speak for the rest of their menu. I know the menus of the other rather better, and all of their offerings are quite delicious."

Raising an eyebrow while finally putting a small chunk of metal and plastic that was once a bicycle into her bag, Calemine asked, "Oh? And this mysterious other café is...?"

"Café Lysandre," Aug-Syc- _the professor_ -said, earning a small groan from his companion. "Hm? Why the long face?"

"Well, mostly, I just don't like him much," Calemine said, "though I'm beginning to think he's connected to Team Flare--" at which point she was cut off by a sharp noise from Sycamore. She looked at his face--eyes wider than usual, nose slightly flared accentuating the downwards turn of his mouth, and finished, her tone flat and unamused, "I take it you don't agree."

"That is a very serious accusation, Calem," answered the Professor, slowly, anger coming across more in his demeanor than his tone, "especially for, what? Both are fond of the color red? _Please_ do not tell me you are that trivial."

"It's more than that, _dumbass_." Calem huffed in irritaion and crossed her arms, keeping her cool significantly less well than Sycamore. "It's how quickly the Holo News got a hold of the Pokéball Factory break-in, and a few..." The irritation in Calem's voice quickly died out as she realized how stupid she sounded, after all. Great going. "A few other things, which all could very well be happenstance and coincidence. You're right. I apologize. I'd take it back, if that were a thing that was possible." Her shoulders hung lower than usual, and her head dropped to meet them as she spoke her apology. "You know what? Let's go have lunch at Lysandre's, as a proof of goodwill to you, and of silliness of that notion, to me. _And_ I have it on good authority that the food's even good, eh?" She looked up at Sycamore with that, and gave him a wink, which did at last earn a chuckle from his still-stern face.

"All right, ma amie. Shall we, then?" he asked, gesturing with both arms towards the small side-street directly across the Boulevard from them.

Nodding, Calemine said, "Yes, we shall."

A few steps later, she added, "Also, I apologize for calling you a 'dumbass'. That was incredibly unprofessional, even if we are currently spending time together as friends, rather than as boss and employee. It won't happen again, and shouldn't have happened in the first place, I--"

Sycamore sighed, though Calemine couldn't tell if he was still irritated or not. "Relax," he said. ...She still couldn't tell. 


	8. Connoisseur

The food at Café Lysandre was, in fact, excellent. Lysandre or his chefs chose to fill the menu with organic, GMO-free, and otherwise delicious (if expensive) items. Calemine huffed and complained to Augustine about how there was _nothing wrong_ with Genetically Modified Organisms as they waited to order--but that pet peeve did nothing to make the food, when it did arrive, any less delicious.

The coffe, too, was delicious. The barista (if that's what they're called in Kalos? Calemine wondered) even made a little Fleur-de-Lis design in the cream at the top of her cup. She found herself relieved that it wasn't Flare's distinctive flame-symbol, and a bit ashamed that she'd apparently been expecting that.

The staff was courteous, with hair that clearly wasn't red or styled in Team Flare's up-do's, and didn't seem arrogant enough to be a part of the team, anyway.

The other customers were even very pleasant, to a point. Two people dressed very clearly in Team Flare's suits did come in to the café shortly after Augustine and Calem had received their coffee, and Calem had burnt her tongue on it. "Do you mind if I...?" Calem asked, tilting her head towards the table the two Flares had settled, and received an exapserated sigh from Augustine, followed by a bitter grin and a dismissive hand-wave. "I'm giving myself proof there's nothing there, not trying to prove you wrong-- Just-- Whatever, I'll only be a minute."

So Calemine pulled up a chair by the two's table, causing them to glance at her in surprise. "Sorry, I'll only be a moment," she said to them, "I just noticed those _fabulous_ outfits you're wearing. Do you guys, like, own the café here or something?"

The girl shook her head. "Nah, we don't own it. We just wo-" and was cut off by a nudge from her companion. "Hey, what was that for?"

"We just hang out here, but please don't draw attention to us," said the male. "We're on break right now, but we're not supposed to be this far from the job. But you said you like these outfits?" He looked around suspiciously, then opened his suit jacket and took something out of the inner pocket. He slid it across the table, hand covering it the whole way until it was right in front of Calemine, when he took his hand back to reveal--a business card. Calemine picked it up as clandestinely as the grunt had given it to her, and read that it was, indeed, a Team Flare business card, listing some benefits of joining--not bad, all things considered, with a health care plan, dental, a meal plan even, and wardrobe for on and off the job, for only- ...for a "measly" _five million Pen._

She blinked as the male grunt continued his pitch. "Pretty snazzy, right? Great stuff, workin' for Flare, and this suit is the least of it. There's a number to call on your Holo- you do have a Holo Caster, right?" Calemine nodded, and the grunt picked up again without missing a beat, "Good. Call the number on your Holo and you'll be on your way to get in on this Team Flare action while the gettin's good. Don't wait too long, though--something's brewin' and recruiters are getting stricter and stricter these days."

Nodding, Calemine answered, "Thanks, I'll make sure to do that! But yeah, I've taken enough of your time, and my coffee's getting cold and my friend bored, I'm sure," looking over to indicate the Professor--Augustine, whatever--who _was_ , in fact looking rather bored. His head was tilted, gazing off in to space, and neglecting to drink the coffee he held in his hands, one foot tapping on the ground, with a bright red sock peeking out from underneath his trousers. Calemine blinked at that, but otherwise didn't react, instead turning her attention back to the two grunts in front of her, and finished, "Thanks again, and enjoy your break."

When Calemine sat back down at the table, Augustine's attention was brought back from the void of his inner thoughts, and he asked, "So, enlightening, was it?"

"Quite," said Calemine, with a smile and a nod. "The last of my doubts have been purged. Though smething they said _is_ rather worrisome... 'Something's brewing' were his exact words, I think. Either way, though, it's definitely not anything to do with Lysandre."

Augustine's face lifted at the first, though the second half of Calemine's answer made him frown and steeple his fingers on the table. "Yes, that's rather worrisome indeed." Then he shrugged, and continued, "Still, not anything we can deal with at the moment, so it's best not to worry on our day off, hm?"

Calemine nodded in agreement, and they enjoyed their coffee and, when it arrived, their food...at least, until Lysandre himself showed up. He didn't even bother to say hello before he was standing next to their table, asking, "So, Augustine, you take your students out on _dates_ now?"

This elicited a muffled laugh from Augustine, as he tried not to spit out his food. Calemine wasn't so sure what was so funny=-she blinked and looked from Lysandre, to Augustine, and back and forth a few more times, uncomfortable in the silence as the latter tried to swallow. Whether Calemine was uncomfortable at the prospect of this being a date, or that the idea that it _was_ one was so funny to her companion, she honestly wasn't sure.

"Lysandre, mon amie!" the young professor finally managed, "You should know better than anyone that I always do this with new--or, well, future in this case--employees. You know how it goes, non? There's the lab orientation and the boss orientation, and all that."

Oh. Well, that made sense. Calemine released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, as Lysandre glanced at her with an eyebrow raised and asked, "Employee? Taking them rather young, aren't you, Gus?"

"Well, I'm obviously more than just a pretty face, _given the lack thereof_ , Lysandre." The venom in her voice was accentuated, rather than disguised, by the half smile on Calem's face. "But yes, for your information, I am twenty years old, and I'm interning under him this coming semester. Oh, and that bottle of wine you drank last time I was here? That was _supposed_ to be my congratulations for being officially accepted." Augustine winced as she said this, and Calemine bit her lip. Right, Lysandre wasn't the only one to blame for that, and that... could affect their relationship, too. Why was she like this.

"Is that so." It wasn't a question. "I wonder when the board lowered their standards so. Have you even been to a proper university?" As Calemine's eyes narrowed and her head bowed just a bit, he continued, "I didn't think so. Augustine, you really ought to vet your applicants _before_ they're accepted, hm? This," he indicated Calem with a tilt of his head, "is what happens when you don't." With a glance down to the intricately decorated silver watch on his wrist, Lysandre finished, "However, I must be going. Farewell, Augustine." And with that, he was gone as quickly as he came, walking behind the counter and out of sight into the kitchens.

" _Elitist prick,_ " Calem muttered under her breath, trying not to let tears come to her eyes. She crossed her arms with a huff and said, more loudly this time, "I, ah, seem to have lost my appetite."

Augustine looked back at her with a grimace. "Yes, so have I." He cast a look around the small café and, upon locating a waiter, raised his hand and called, "Check, please!"

The seconds while they were waiting for the bill were tense and silent, or at least they seemed that way to Calem. She was a burden, a failure, barely keeping above water as she failed numerous league challenges, as she was even less useful than a secretary to the professors-- given she couldn't even take notes for shit. Given she was two and a half years into what ought to have been a two year degree, and wasn't finished yet. How could Lysandre see  _through_ her like that, though? It wasn't... fair. But it didn't make him any less right.

When the check finally came, Augustine signed the paper and sent it off, getting up almost immediately.

"Hey-" Calemine barely got out before the waiter went away with the receipt. "I'd wanted to pay," she said with a pout -- Arceus dammit, now she was being childish too, and given Sycamore's raised eyebrow, he'd noticed, too. "What? Just because he's a giant _dickbag_ doesn't mean I wouldn't pay for food I ate at his restaurant. Even if I didn't eat much..." Her gaze trailed across her half-eaten meal. She didn't want to add cheapskate onto her list of descriptors, regardless of how gross it was to leave half of her food behind. 

"Well, first of all, I have a tab here," Augustine said, ushering Calem out of the restaurant and into the open air of late-afternoon Lumiose. "Or would you have rather waited inside while they ran your credit card?" Calemine shook her head. "And anyhow, ma cher, today is about you. Familiarising you a bit more with Lumiose, its natives, your boss..." He swept a hand out and around to indicate everything around him. "It would be a shame to make you pay on such a day, no?"

With a sigh, Calemine nodded. "Fine, you win. I guess it's too late now, anyhow." She looked around--she hadn't even noticed they'd been walking this whole time until she saw the Prism Tower ahead of them. It wasn't sunset yet, so the lights were still rather few and rather pale against the sun's own light, but it was still quite a sight. ...To be honest, though, it lost some of its charm after defeating the gym inside. True, there were plenty of non-trainer points about the tower, like the elevator directly to the very top of the tower, but it... it just didn't seem so _enchanting_ as it had the first evening she'd been in Lumiose, several months ago now.

Blinking, Calem realized they'd been silent for some time--though whether that was seconds or minutes, she honestly couldn't say. "Er, uh, sorry for spacing. So, what should we do now, Pr-eh, Aug--uh..." She sighed and waved a hand in his direction, whatever his name was. 

Chuckling at the vocal stumble, he shrugged. "Anything you want, Calem."

Calemine tilted her head as she thought, then badly suppressed a laugh as a thought came to her. " _Anything_? Rawr, you naughty boy." She couldn't help the wide grin and the snickering that came through her words, but the eyebrow waggle was entirely intentional. Before he could say anything, though, she continued, "But seriously, I think I might just like to swing by the lab and meet the rest of the gang, too. I mean, I've _met_ Sophie and Cosette and the rest of them, but as coworkers, yeah?"

Augustine drew a breath. "Anything but that."

"I was _kidding_ about the first part, in case that wasn't obvious."

"No, no, it was," Augustine said, "and that's quite out of the question too, in the case that that wasn't obvious." He smiled at that, and continued, "...I _was_ referring to the latter, though."

Calemine stopped their aimless wander to give him the side-eye. "Eh? What was that about this being normal practice with all of your new employees then?"

With a sigh, Augustine turned to her and looked her in the eye as he answered, "No, no, that's quite true. It's just... I normally don't say as much to the person in question. It makes them feel...special, you see? It's a little misleading, but it seems to make the workplace much more pleasant for everyone involved."

"So... why didn't you just answer to Lysandre that it _was_ a date, then?" Her tone wasn't accusatory so much as just curious. "Granted..."

Augustine nodded. "That would've made you uncomfortable, wouldn't it? You've mentioned multiple times when you've been the center of attention, all quite negatively. I meant to say something of the normal nature of this outing sometime today, anyhow, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet, and well..." With another of his dramatic shrugs, Augustine finished, "Then Lysandre happened."

"Heh. Yeah."

"I apologize for him, by the way." At this, Augustine started walking again, and Calemine followed. "He's a big softy under that shell of his--but even then, I've never seen him so...downright unpleasant."

"Hm." Calemine nodded--then opened her eyes wide in realization, and cast a sideways glance at the man next to her. " _Hmm..._ " she said again, laced with rather more meaning than the previous noise.

"What?" Augustine was genuinely confused by the sly smile that was creeping up Calemine's face.

"You know, I think..." Calem trailed off. "No, nevermind. It wouldn't be right of me to say it if he hasn't already." Well, that was true, but the tone of her voice made it clear she was mostly being coy.

" _What?_ " Augustine repeated, "You can't just leave me hanging like that, ma amie!" The smile on his face belied the frantic tone of voice.

"I think itmight be possible that a certain redhead has a crush on a certain professor." When Augustine blinked and started to deny it, she continued, "I don't know, maybe not. It's just that he seemed to dislike me a lot more after seeing you and I together on what he himself admitted to thinking was a date." Not that he hadn't already disliked her, but neither of the previous run-ins with him had been so... She clenched her fists, trying not to show the tension elsewhere. 

"Eheh... Well... Anyhow, that's why we cannot go by the lab, because the other interns and assistants and the like would be heartbroken." Calemine rolled her eyes at Augustine's less-than-smooth change of subject. "So we can go anywhere in Lumiose, except the lab. And probably Café Soleil and the parts of South Bouldevard closest to the lab."

"That's a pretty restricted area to be called 'anywhere,' isn't it?" Calemine laughed softly. "Ah, but I... I don't know. I'm not much into city life, honestly. I'l half tempted to ask to just go to your place--not like that!" Augustine's expression was pretty hilarious, the drawing up of his shoulders as he gritted his teeth and knitted his brows, but attempted to smile anyway. "Just to hang out, and I don't know, watch a movie you like, or something. But the way it _sounds_ is exactly why I'm saying it like that-I'm not _going_ to to ask that because that would look rather terrible, heh?" That was harder than Calem thought it would be, she realized as a sinking feeling weighed down her chest. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that at all." Augustine didn't disagree.

"I'm kind of terrible to hang out with, really," she continued, looking at the buildings around them and rubbing the back of her neck. "I either don't talk much, or I talk way too much. There's, like, no middle ground. I just keep going on, long after my companion's bored. And I don't even do much. I'm sort of a stick in the mud--I just do my things when I want to do them, so when I'm trying to do things with someone else, I don't know what to do. Do I just do stuff like I would on my own? But then I'm ignoring whoever. Do I always pay attention to them? Does that get creepy? Honestly the time we've spent has been plenty, I should just lea--"

"It's quite all right, ma chérie." When Calemine looked back at Augustine, his face was much softer than before. "You needn't worry about upsetting me. And--I have a compromise. Why don't we go to a theater? It's not so, ah..." He drew circles in the air with his hand, as if trying to draw the word he was looking for out of the aether.

"Awkward?" Calemine supplied helpfully.

"Oui, that works-as my apartment; but it is still rather secluded, and more passive than many activities."

Calemine nodded, though she still thought that going to see a movie still felt a bit awkwardly like a date. Granted, there was nothing that would make it seem elsewise, at this point--though at least the professor himself was doing his best to keep it normal and friendly, as well.

When they got there, Calemine was allowed to choose the film--and chose an action flick. This was just as well, as all the lines were in Kalosian and Calemine couldn't understand a word of it, but that hardly mattered given the plot--or rather, the lack thereof--in the flim. It was good fun, and Calemine enjoyed the Kalosian explosions just as much as she would have Unovan ones, though she probably did miss a few jokes, given the moments of laughter of the rest of the audience. The first few times, Augustine attmepted to explain them to Calem in hushed tones, leaning in and whispering into her ear--giving Calemine a very pleasant tickle each time, but she tried to ignore that. The other audience members tended to give them dirty looks for that, though, and eventually he stopped, leaving Calemine a bit awkward and a bit sad.

After they left the theater, Calemine asked, "So, I suppose this is probably the end of the getting-to-know-you day, then?" She tried not to sound as sad about that as she felt. And earlier, she'd been trying to get out of it. Typical. 

"If you wish, ma cher, though I do believe it's now late enough for that bottle of wine."

Calemine hesitated. "I'm not really up for dinner yet, honestly. I filled up on junk food during the movie..." She frowned. "That's not necessarily a no, but I don't want to waste your money on a dinner I probably won't eat, you know? I... yeah."

"And I take it you do not want to drink wine without a meal?"

"Well, ah..." Calemine shrugged. "I don't know, it just seems awkward?"

Augustine laughed, and said, "I see how it is. You want to leave tonight while I still owe you, is that it? Guarantee we spend another time together off work?"

Calemine blinked. "No, that hadn't been my intention at all." She wished she'd thought of it first, though. "I suppose we could just go get a bottle of wine and sit around drinking it, if you'd prefer?" She shrugged-- just a lifting of the shoulders, contrasting to Augustine's more grandiose gestures. "Though if we do--can it be cheap wine? I'm really not much of a wine nut, and I don't want to wreck your wallet _too_ badly, eheh..."

"Ah, truthfully, I'm not either," Augustine responded. So they went and retrieved a bottle of rather cheap wine, and sat outside on a bench facing the river that cut through the city, with disposable cups and the bottle between them.

They talked of several things. Calemine spoke of her thoughts on Kalos' stones. "Do you think Geosenge has any relation to the Mega Stones here? I mean, they might be in other regions too, but such a prominent site seems like it could easily tie with them." Augustine thought they were more related to the Anistar Sundial, which Calemine hadn't reached on her journey yet.

They spoke of their families. "I've got an older brother, but I haven't seen or spoken to him in years... and good riddance" Calemine answered Augustine's question. "How about you? Anyone but Diantha?"

Augustine nodded. "Diantha is my younger sister, and I have an older sister. She's the only one of us with any children-- her son Lucas is studying in Sinnoh at the moment, under Rowan, the old battleaxe." He gave a small sigh and smile, and continued. "They're not technically family, but Rowan feels like a second father, and I always enjoy visiting 'Aunt' Drasna."

They were both doing their level best not to slur their words as the darkness grew and the bottle emptied.

There was a moment when Calemine suddenly noticed that the bottle had been placed on the ground between them, instead of on the bench, and that they both held their cups to their sides, and were sitting substantially closer together than they had been earlier. The slight breeze blowing off the river sent a shiver down her spine, and the lights of Prism Tower in the distance behind them reflected in the rushing water looked much nicer than it had in a long time.

Augustine closed the distance between them and put his arm around her shoulders, asking, "Oh, m'petit fleur, are you cold? You sh-"

But she cut him off. "No, no, uh. Ac-actually, I jus' had a thought. I, ah, I c'n transfer data between my 'dexes, so, like, I don't really need them both on my journey, yeah?"

Augustine pulled away from her and looked her in the face, brows knitted. "Hm? I... s'pose not. Why d'you ask?"

"My, uh, my thought's this. What if, like, what if I left my old, Hoenn 'dex with you? I dunno that, like, it would help anything, but it can't hurt, and it has all sorts of stuff from different regions. I dunno, it's not as good as, er, live specimens, but maybe it could help you match any mega stones you...don't...have Pokémon matches for?" At least, that's what Calemine thought she said. Augustine seemed to understand her, but she wasn't confident it actually sounded like she intended.

"Well... All right." Calemine nodded and dug it out of her bag-she'd been toting it around all day, but then, she was used to doing that anyway. When the Professor took it from her, he didn't seem to know quite what to do with it, so Calemine took it back and put it in the breast pocket of his shirt. It was a little large, and definitely too bulky to fit comfortably in it, but it should stay in place.

There was a moment of silence, stretching into awkwardness. Calemine realized that, despite her movements, Augustine's arm was actually still around her shoulders, his face close to hers. He looked like he was still puzzling out the sudden Pokédex thing, chewing on his lip in a way Calem tried not to pay attention to. He noticed her looking, though, and his lips pulled back into a smile, and tightened his one-arm hug, or whatever you'd call that. 

Calemine hurriedly leaned downward again and poured the last of the bottle's contents into a cup, and handed it to Augustine. "Guesh tha's it, then," she said. "Well, I, ah. I should get to a room." She slipped out of his hold, stood up and released Marius, who quickly moved to support her weight as she walked away.

"Calem--wait!" Augustine downed the wine in a gulp and scrambled to follow her. "I should at least walk you to your hotel, hm? After getting you, ah, as drunk as all this." He tried his best to walk straight as well, but ended up needing to call out his own Garchomp to help himself stay upright as well.

"What a pair we make," Calem commented, shortly after this. Other than the chuckle she received in return, though, the didn't speak much as they made their way towards the North Boulevard Pokémon Center until they actually arrived.

"Here? But there are other rooms, you could stay in Richmi-Richiss-the expensive hotel," Augustine said, holding Calem's forearm while trying to prevent her from going inside the Center.

"Dude," she said in response, "dude. I'm, like, gonna be here a few days. You _really_ don' need that kinda bill. An' anyway, I'm used t'staying in these, so 'm pretty sure I'd like this better'n Rich-my-ass-y anyway."

"You're sure?" She nodded. "Well, all right, mon trésor. Good night, and sleep well." He smiled as he turned around to go to his own room.

She smiled after him and called out, "You too, Prof! And Garchomp, get'm home safely, y'hear?" Calem received a ...claws-up? and a smile from the dragon, and satisfied with that answer, she turned back into the Center to get her own bed for the night.


	9. Consultation

Pacing, pacing, back and forth across her room. There wasn't much room for Calemine to pace in, with given the room was only just large enough for the cot, a bed stand with lamp and alarm clock, and a sink on one wall. There wasn't a private bathroom, there never was for Pokécenter rooms. The bathroom for the dorms was down the hall, and to the right. But there was a sink, with a mirror and medicine cabinet in her own room. Each time Calemine passed the sink, she caught a glimpse of her own face-slightly pinkish and blotchy, from the wine. She was somewhat more sober now, after several cups of old coffee from the Center's lounge and several more cups of tap water. She could walk without assistance, at least.

Truth be told, she hadn't wholly _needed_ Marius to assist her to the center, but she preferred not to take the chance of stumbling on the pavement and scraping her hands and all that business, as that was always a pain--not to mention, in the off chance that she was mugged, then she'd already have the Lucario out to defend her.

Not that it had mattered tonight. Augustine--the Professor--which did he count as now, that he wasn't with her? Because she was thinking of him while he was off-the-job, should it be Augustine, or would it be more proper that he was The Pokémon Professor of Kalos for any time except when he specifically asked to be otherwise? Honestly, it would probably be _most_ proper if she didn't think of him at _all_ while away from him, aside from the obvious job-related reasons.

But that was exactly the problem, wasn't it.

Marius sat on the bed, watching her pace worriedly. His hind paws didn't quite reach the floor, dangling somewhat amusingly a few inches above it, as he wrung his forepaws in worry. The entire time he'd known Calemine, she had been... fidgety. When she was happy, she jumped for joy and made grand gestures. When she was sad, she moped and flopped rather dramatically. He had seen her worried, but she had done her best to hide the symptoms of that--but her aura always gave her away.

This was something else, though. He watched her pace back and forth, watching both her movements and the shifts in her aura. He rather thought he knew what she was feeling, but he didn't want to admit it to himself. The warm red color had been creeping into her aura more and more, and always seemed to grow most after her meetings with the Professor. Right at the moment, though, it was surrounded by a deep, unhappy blue that grew and shrunk. When Calemine stopped to look at herself in the mirror, and her face grew hard and her eyes closed in concentration, the blue capsule seemed to thicken and contract, forcing the red down and out of sight. When she turned away, though, or when she paused and chuckled, looking at nothing in particular out of the corners of her eye, the red won out and grew, stretching the blue such that it was almost imperceptibly thin.

Marius thought of the day after he'd joined her in Shalour, and the film she'd watched with him, the origin of his namesake. He rather thought he was more like Eponine, right at this moment. At least she and her professor were the same species... but he couldn't ignore the kindness in her actions, the pain in her aura, the good intentions-- even if she was occasionally a bit reckless. He clenched and unclenched his fists. He'd not meant to get this attached, he had just wanted to help her heal her aura, and yet, here he was... 

Pathetically, he thought, when Calemine turned to him on the bed, he still perked up. "I'm sorry, Mar," she said, "You shouldn't have to see me like this. I just..." She sat down beside him with a huff. "I sometimes wish I was a Pokémon, like you. Things would be so much simpler."

Marius snort-laughed at that, just once. Calemine took it as acknowledgement without any particular connotations. "You're great at listening to me, and dealing with my bullshit in general. I mean, Pokémon usually are, but I've had a lot of Pokémon over the years, and you..." She sighed and hugged him around the shoulders. "Thanks. But I think I need someone else to talk to right now, you know? I... I think I know who'll be good. Would you like to be out or go back to your ball for the conversation?"

Marius looked down in thought, paws clenched and eyes closed. It took him several seconds before he shook his head.

"Err... I phrased that badly, didn't I?" Marius looked at Calem. "I don't know which part that was 'no' to, whoops. So clearer question: should I return you to your Pokéball?" Again, Marius shook his head, but this time with a smile and a small roll of his eyes. "All righty, then." She stood up and dug her Holocaster out of her bag, and sat back down on the cot with a thump.

The holo rung once, twice, three times before Shauna's face appeared above the small screen. "Calem?" she asked, "What's up? Are you okay? You look pretty sick..."

Calem blinked before answering, "Uh, sort of. Face is just 'cause I'm still a little drunk. Calling 'cause I, eh. I just really need to talk to someone and... I know we don't talk much, what with me being the resident asshole, but this seems like the sort of thing you'd be best at, or, like, at least most interested in?"

Tilting her head to one side in slight confusion, Shauna said, "Sure, I... I'll help how I can, I guess?"

"Okay, thanks. Before I launch into some... lengthy diatribe, though, just wanna be clear. If you ever gotta go or just can't stand listening to my sorry ass anymore, please say something. I can deal on my own, I usually do, I promise I'll be fine. I just figure talking it out would be... nice?" Calem waited for Shauna to indicate she'd heard and understood all that, then started again, "So, like. Uh. The, uh. The thing I'm trying to talk about. It. It's, uh." Calem's cheeks reddened further as she found herself too embarrassed to say what she'd been trying not to believe aloud. "It's-that-I-have-a-huge-crush-on-the-professor."

"Say what? Reception out here's pretty crappy, so I didn't get that." Stop mumbling and running your words together you drunk ass was more like it.

Calem drew a large breath and forced her way through the tingling embarrassment and stated, enunciated even, "I have a rather _gigantic_ crush on the Professor."

A small giggle and "Whaaaat?" came out of the Holo. Calem sighed, but before she could start again Shauna continued, "I heard what you said, that's just... Daaaang."

"Heh. I fuckin' know, right?" Her chuckle was too clearly nervous to mask the spreading heat in her face. or the tears pricking at her eyes, or the sinking feeling in her gut.

"So, like, is it one-way or do you think you have a chance?" The look Calem gave her prompted her to continue, "What? You're pretty old too, it wouldn't be that weird. And, like, wow, what a cute couple you guys would make." Her grin seemed sincere, so... that was one hurdle crossed, at least. Talking to Shauna wouldn't do much good if the only thing shauna had to say was how gross the age gap was, or something.

"Still," Calem answered, "he's at _least_ ten years older than I am. And, like. He's my _boss._ That's weird. That's really weird." In case she wasn't already unnatural enough, apparently. "Or at least, unethical. Also, _ten years._ That's half my life. And I've never even been to proper uni, I've mostly just been doing the professor's aide and league circuits, but Augustine's young enough that he clearly went through grad and undergrad quickly, probably got the four-year thing done in two. If I'm lucky, I'll get a two-year thing done in four... He's a PhD in his early thirties! That's _crazy_. Like, I don't know if you have a good perspective on how young that is, at your age, but it is. And here I am, not even _in_ a real undergrad program at _twenty_ , and..." Calem sighed.

Shauna took the pause in Calem's rambling as an opportunity to speak up, saying "You still never answered my question." A small confused noise from Calem later, Shauna said, "Do you have a chance or not? I know all that stuff you said, but like, who even cares. You do what you wanna do. All that matters is, like, d'ya think he might feel the same about you?" A short pause, then Shauna finished, "Well, not exactly the same, I guess, but you know what I mean."

Calem listened to Shauna in silence, and even smiled at the advice. What's the phrase again, 'from the mouths of babes comes wisdom'? Not that she should really be that surprised, she guessed. In the few times they'd talked, Shauna had seemed very perceptive and insightful, especially when it came to people. There was a reason Calemine hadn't called Serena or Sina, both of whom she'd talked to more. One was all battles, and the other... well, even aside from being busy much more often than one would expect, Sina was kind of a bitch. 

"You awake?" came Shauna's voice from the other end of the line, and Calem realized she'd been spacing out again.

"Yeah, sorry. I think it's the wine." It wasn't the wine. "Though I was also trying to figure out how to answer that..." She hadn't been. "But I just, I really don't know. Which is also part of the problem, I guess. We spent the afternoon and evening together today." This elicited an 'aww!' of the 'that's adorable!' variety from Shauna, and Calem chuckled as she continued. "Yeah. It looked like a date to anyone else. That's, like, not a guess--Lysandre came up to us and said about as much. Before insulting me out of the café, but, that's, that's not the point. But yeah, so, like. It sort of felt like a date. And I don't even know if that's a good thing. Do I even want him to, ah... to return these feelings?"

There was a moment of silence before Shauna answered, "Wait, what? Why wouldn't you?"

More silence as Calem blinked and muttered " _Shit_ " under her breath. Another moment and she said, "Well, like, that could really have an impact on my future, you know? If I ever become successful--" that was _hella_ unlikely, but whatever-- "people could use that against me and said I just slept my way to the top rather than make it there on my own merits. And believe me, that would be a crock of shit, but it would still make people respect me less, you know?"

Shauna huffed. "That makes sense, but... the way you said that doesn't make it sound like the truth."

Calem groaned and leaned to one side, bringing a hand up to rub one of her temples. Shit. This was exactly the reason she'd called Shauna, she was _just_ thinking about that like two seconds ago. Or however long ago, what even is time when drunk.

"Look, if you don't want to say, that's cool! I don't care." Calem looked up at the holo in front of her without moving her head. "Well, that's not the right word. But I'm just trying to say, I'm not trying to, like. Make you feel worse, or whatever."

With a sigh, Calem said, "No, it's... fine. It's that-- I thought I was lesbian, and I can't tell if this makes me more or less of a freak, you know?" Calem's grin was too wide, forcing a laugh to dam up the tears. 

"Oh my god, no, you're not--" Shauna started to say, but Calem interrupted her. 

"I know, I've heard it before, I've said it before. I'm not... I'm valid, or whatever." Calem sniffled, or maybe it was a chuckle, even she couldn't quite tell. "But you know the saying. Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will leave psychological scars that never heal." 

A pause, then Shauna said, "I don't think that's how it goes." 

Calem shrugged. "I'm pretty sure it is, or that's more accurate anyway." 

 

There was silence from the other end of the line, and Shauna didn't seem to know where to look. 

"Sorry... I didn't mean to bum you out," Calem said, eventually. "But... yeah, that's why I'm-- conflicted. Since I'm apparently bi now, should I at least try to look a little less butch? The, uh, only girl I ever dated was as frilly as  _you_ are, and she had guys falling all over her, unfortunately. The only flirting I got from guys was as jokes, because someone like me is... not attractive, not to straight guys. But I like the butch look, even if it gets me gender flak." Calem looked up at the holo, to see Shauna still looking at her, not having said anything for a couple minutes now. "Arceus dammit!" Calemine said suddenly, scratching at one of her eyes. "I was trying to be less of a downer, and then I kept on rambling about my shit. I'm sorry, I should just... let you go." 

Calem's hand moved towards the end call button, but Shauna's voice rang out, "Please don't." 

Blinking, Calem retrieved her hand. "You all right?" she asked. She'd fucked up. Somehow, she'd really upset Shauna, and now she was going to get it. Shauna had another line, she was calling the authorities, they were tracing Calem's location because she'd fucked up so badly. ...This was ridiculous.

At any rate, Shauna nodded, albeit slowly. "Do you really think liking girls would make you--" 

"No, no, none of that," Calem said. "Self-loathing is one thing, but--" and then Calemine realized what the girl was really asking. "...No, you're not. I just... have less than ideal family. There's nothing wrong with liking girls, or boys, or both, or-- I think there are folks who aren't either, somehow. I don't really understand their deal, but... there's nothing  _wrong_ with them, either. It's just that society's an entire fucknugget." 

That got a laugh out of Shauna, at least. "Will you... promise not to tell anyone, if I tell you who I like, then?" 

"Absolutely," Calem said, and held her pinkie finger extended towards the holo viewport. "...Pretend I'm giving you a pinkie swear." 

Another laugh, that was good. "It's... Serena." Which wasn't surprising-- there weren't many other girls Shauna would have run into, and this was probably Calem's first real conversation with Shauna. Still, it was really heartwarming that Shauna was willing to confide in her.

 

"Gotta ask you your own questions now, hon. D'you think you have a chance?" 

Shauna shrugged. "I mean, we're good friends, at least. I talk to her on the holo most days if we're not around, but... What if she doesn't like girls like that, what if I'm too young." She sighed. "I don't like not knowing, but I don't want to get 'no' as an answer either, you know?" 

Calem snorted a laugh. "I do know, I really do." 

 

There was a long pause, before Shauna said, "What I said earlier still totally applies to you-you do what you wanna do, and don't listen to anyone else. Well, like. Listen to me, obviously." She paused breathe a laugh. "But yeah, just... I say go for it, and screw labels. Screw people who say others shouldn't do what makes them happy. Well, like, as long as 'what makes you happy' isn't being a mass murderer or whatever."

A dramatic gasp and the back of a hand to Calem's forehead made Shauna giggle even before Calem said, "Oh no! You've uncovered my secret. I'm secretly a serial killer. I'm going to get all of you in your sleep. I'm just waiting for the perfect time... and have been for, like, how many months has it been since we met?" Calem shrugged and smiled. "But yeah, no, that's probably the best life philosophy I've ever heard of, anyway."

"So, um.. do you think there's, like, any chance of that actually being a thing? You and him, dating."

Calem huffed. "Well, see, that's also part of the problem. Back when I was just getting to be 'oh hey actually what if we were friends'--well, and also he got me drunk the previous night and I didn't really want to admit to you guys I was hungover 'n' shit, but=--the point is, a thing I love to do with my guy friends is to dramatically play-flirt. It's just so damn hilarious, like gee, haha, I could _never_ actually feel that way about you! It's so goddamn _funny_." It.. was a little less playing and more genuine weakness, if Calemine remembered properly, but... Crossing her arms and scowling, she continued, "So, yeah. He sort of returned that. But I haven't a fucking _clue_ whether that's just the same or if that was actual, genuine flirting? And even then, like. Some of the guys I've known like to flirt with girls not because they want a date, but because they like lifting others' spirits, and Augustine's _just_ the sort of guy who would do that." Or because it was some part of a sick joke, but that was beside the point. 

Shauna tilted her head. "Well, he's your boss but you're on first-name terms with him. So, like, there's that."

"I, uh, well-" Face reddening for the umpteenth time this conversation, Calem grinned awkwardly and turned away from the holo. "I don't know. It's weird. Like, for one, that's only while we're not working together, but that's normal. But it still--I can't tell, if, like. If that's him being, uh, _whatever_. Or if that's just him being friendly. I mean, I made it to champion once, and people calling me 'Champion' this and 'Lady' that and 'Miss' whatever and... it was weird as hell. It, ah... It's why I started traveling on my own, without my family. But yeah, so like, I get minimizing that weirdness." Though Calemine gave an assertive nod, her face didn't feel any less hot.

"Suuuure." Shauna shrugged at the snort she recieved. "Well, anyway, it might just be me buuut I think there's only really one way to know for sure."

With a tilt of her head and a cocked eyebrow, Calem asked, "And that is?"

"You ask him out, silly!"

If Calem had been drinking anything, she'd have spat it out. As it was, her clothes were clean but she still didn't look terribly dignified. "Hep- de- ip- er- what?"

"I know you heard me." Shauna scowled at the Holo as she scolded, but couldn't quite hold in a chuckle either. "Like, you don't need to be all, 'dude marry me right now' just, like, ask him on a date sometime! Not like today, miss maybe-maybe-not-ooh-its-like-such-a-mystery, _call_ it a date."

Calem sighed and nodded. "Yeah, okay. I- I dunno when that date could even _be_ , we're both pretty busy, but knowing that that is going to be, is going to be a thing. A _real thing._ Or knowing that it won't, I guess... But yeah. Even rejection is better than... This." A grimace crossed her face as she folded her arms in her lap. "That doesn't mean I'm looking forward to it. Though... I did want to take a tour of the lab. I could do that, kill two birds with one Stone Edge. ...Not actually sure how that would... work. Literally speaking. The st-actually that's kind of morbid, isn't it."

Shauna frowned awkwardly. "Yeah, it is."

"Yeah..." Calem and Shauna sat in silence for several seconds. "So!" Sitting straight and clapping loudly--which startled Shauna over the line--Calemine said, "Project 'Get Ourselves A Date' starts tomorrow. You ask out Serena, and I'll ask out Profe-Aug-Sycamore. Deal?"

Shauna fidgeted. "Well, okay. I, uh." She sighed. "Yeah, okay. I just wish Serena was as, like--as easy to understand as a puzzle. But yeah, no way I'll know if I don't ask, aha."

"That's the spirit!" Calem grinned at her screen. "I'll call you again tomorrow night and report on the progress. Deal?"

"Deal!"

They said their goodbyes and hung up, after which Calem flopped backward onto the mattress, legs still hanging off the side.

She found Marius still on the other side of the bed, currently looking down his nose at her. ...Literally. Figuratively, well, Calem didn't know, but he seemed fine. She couldn't tell if that was a smile or not, but he moved to put one of his forepaws to place it on one of her hands. See? No disdain or whatever, it was just this odd viewpoint.

Calem wondered if she looked like that to Marius most of the time. And-- "Hey, why'd you wanna sit through that anyway? That was probably, like, the _girliest_ conversation I've ever had. Even if you could talk, I don't think that's something you'd really have wanted part of." Marius shrugged and grimaced. "Haha, good to know I was right." He raised a paw and opened his mouth like there was something he wanted to say, or attempt to say, but then sighed and shrugged again. "Still, thanks I guess? Yeah. It's nice to know you're willing to sit like bullshit like that for me. You're a trooper. Iunno how I've dealt without having a friend like you on my team all these years." She grinned up at him, then wriggled herself to a more comfortable spot on the bed. Marius scooted over so she had room to do so, but remained laying off the edge of the bed as she settled in to sleep.

Several moments of comfortable silence passed, then Calemine said, "Shit. The lights. No wonder I can't sleep." She continued grumbling as she started to get up, but was stopped by a paw on her shoulder. "Oh. Thank you, Marius. Have I mentioned you're great lately?" The Lucario nodded as he hopped off the bed, the lights going dark a moment later.

He returned to the foot of the bed, eventually falling asleep there himself.


	10. Coworkers

Today Calemine would tour the Sycamore Laboratory, thoroughly, learn where she had been and would continue to be sending her data, see what role she would play in the science, and in general start to get acquainted with the atmosphere.

She'd thought about calling when she woke up that morning, but didn't think it was business hours yet and didn't know what the policy on answering machines or voice mail was.

She'd thought about calling when she exited Restaurant Le Yeah, but her Pokémon were very tired and she wanted to heal them up before she made any definite plans.

She'd thought about calling after she'd bought herself a few stones and minerals (of the non-Pokémonic variety) in the Stone Emporium, as well as a shiny new set of evolution stones (minus one)-but then, she felt she needed to earn a bit more money, so back to Le Yeah she went.

She'd thought about calling when she finally had that last stone--a Moon Stone--and remembered she hadn't healed her Pokémon between Le Yeah and the emporium. At that point, the Southern Pokémon Center was closer than Centrico Plaza's, so she went there to heal them.

She thought about calling when she retrieved her Pokémon from the nurse, but now the lab was just across the street, a literal stone's throw away (though she wouldn't dare, for fear of brekaing one of the lab's many windows--or one of her precious new stones). It just... wasn't even worth it at that point.

So, when the doorchimes tinkled at Calemine's interest, the desk clerk--Cosette, said her nametag--looked up with mild surprise. "Can I help you--?" She looked uncertain for a moment, then settled on ending her question there with a smile.

"Uh, hi. Hello. I'm Calemine Braun, a soon-to-be intern here. I haven't really, uh, been here much though--so I thought I should come around while I'm in town, and uh, yeah."

Cosette nodded. "Right. I thought I recognized you--you're also one of this year's starter applicants, am I right?" Calemine nodded in kind. "Well, I'm afraid the Professor is actually out today on an inter-lab collaboration with Fleur-de-Lis Labs. Something about producing Mega Rings synthetically, if I recall correctly."

Calemine kept her smile up, but chided herself internally. _This. Is why. You damned well make sure to call the fuck ahead._ Not that it would have changed the Professor's schedule, but she could have done the tour some other day without being obvious about her rather embarassing reasons.

...Oh, right, Cosette was still talking. Whoops! Calemine caught back on as Cosette finished, "...if anyone's available to show you around."

"Thanks," Calemine said with yet another nod. "Should, should I just, ah, wait here? If there's no one available I don't mind wandering about on my own--and I know how to deal with scientific equipment; namely, don't touch anything that's not yours--so I really promise you don't have to worry about that. This isn't the first time I've done this sort of thing, you know."

"Then you really ought to know it's policy. There's some couches and coffee tables over there in the waiting area."

With a huff, Calemine responded, " _Fiiine_ ," and sat as directed.

There was a click-clacking through the mostly empty room as Cosette did something. Some murmuring as she picked up the desk phone and made some calls. Calemine fidgeted impatiently.

Cosette broke the silence after a few minutes by calling to Calemine, "It looks like Sina is available to show you around. She'll be down in a few minutes." Calem nodded her thanks, though muttered to herself. Well, she'd have to get along with Sina eventually. 

About another minute had passed in relative silence, bar the tip-tapping of keys, the buh-buh-buh-buh of Calemine's impatient foot, and the tick-tick-tick of the second hand of the wall clock, when Calem twisted around in her seat to face Cosette over the back of the couch she sat on. "Wait, I thought you were one of the science assistants, weren't you?"

"I was, and I still am," Cosette responded coolly. "We rotate desk duty around here, though we work around pet projects, of course. I take it these other laboritories you've worked at have not done that? Isn't it odd, how different places do things differently." She went back to click-clacking at her keyboard. For a moment, Calem considered trying to defend herself, mouth open and index finger pointed at the ceiling, but let out a sigh and seemed to deflate as she turned the right way 'round in the couch.

It really wasn't very long until Sina arrived in the elevator, but Calemine hopped up from the couch and greeted her enthusiastically, with a hopefully-hidden sense of relief and a too-wide grin. "It's good to see you again!" That was...stretching the truth, but no need to point that out. "I can't wait to work here with you guys. Did Cosette tell you? I want a look around before I officially start working under the Prof-" She tried to herd her current tour-guide into the elevator, but she was stopped short of it.

"Now hold up," Sina said, touching Calem's arm to get her attention. She didn't seem to share her touree's excitement, if her deadpan expression was anything to go by. "There's a bit more on this level you ought to see." She led Calem around the elevator and to a humble looking door, with a worn plaque reading _Emplyees Only Beyond This Point._ As Sina fished the correct key from her keyring, she said, "It's good to hear you're excited to work here, given how Professor Sycamore insulted your pride by being too busy to escort you around half of Kalos."

Calemine paled at that. "Oh." Right, she'd been the asshole first. Sina found the correct key, and the grinding of the mechanism was the only sound for a moment. Only when Sina pushed the door open did Calem find her voice again, saying, "I'd forgotten I was like that, before. I'm sorry. I've become a bit, eh. Big-headed, these days, though it's mostly a cover for, well. I'm twenty damn years old, and I'm still doing the trainer thing, because that's my only reliable source of income. I boast about how I've challenged several leagues, but I've only ever challenged the champion of Indigo, and _then_ only because the Kanto and Johto leagues are joint and I was allowed to bring my Pokémon from the one region right over to the other. And, like. I started community college in Unova but I couldn't even stick with it, so I've been applying for internships for college credit so maybe, someday, I can go back, and, I dunno. Maybe attempt the whole college thing again. --Er, what, what it is I'm trying to say, here, is that I'm sorry I was an ass. I know I'll continue to be an ass, but hopefully less so and at least sort of funny, and less of a pompous prick, and I didn't mean to--" Calem leaned on the doorframe and sighed, putting a hand to her face. "That was a really bad first impression I left. And I wanted to say I'm sorry."

When Calem looked up at Sina's face, it was... Well, she _hoped_ it was a good sign that the flat expression of before had been replaced with one raised eyebrow and a slight smile. "Apology accepted," Sina said, causing Calem to smile even if her brows were still knitted with a bit of worry. "However-" Calem deflated a bit. "I _will_ call you out if you start acting like that again. Can we go on with the tour now?"

Calem took a deep breath. "That sounds great." She hoped it was clear she referred to both the question and the statement before it, because she was all rambled-out for now. Either way, she was led into the back room, which was... surprisingly bright. There was a small stable of sorts, to the left, but largely the area seemed to be an open pasture. Calem stared up at what she knew was the ceiling but looked so much like the sky, until she finally was able to pick out the seams between panels, and for her eyes to adjust to the fact that it was about ten feet away, rather than a hundred or a thousand like those fake-clouds suggested.

Dropping her gaze, she saw several Pokémon playing in the open-seeming-enclosure, including several Skiddo and a few Kalosian and Kantoan Starters.

"This is where we raise and otherwise take care of Pokémon that have been hatched from eggs, as with the Starters, or taken in-as with the Skiddo. When not needed, employees tend to leave our own Pokémon here, as well." Sina gestured towards the right near corner, causing Calem to crane her head around to look, and noticed a cave--probably much shallower than it looked--with a Crobat hanging from the entrance, fast asleep. "He's the Professor's. Sycamore claims he is not a very good trainer, but some of his Pokémon have been with him for so long I wouldn't be surprised if they are stronger than some of the Champion's. ...Still, he is not lying about not directing them well, so..." She shrugged. "That sort of thing tends to fall to Dexio and me, between league-challenging seasons, at least."

They took a few moments to go around and see the different areas of the outside-room, including the feed and grooming supplies in the stable and the miniature biomes. "It's still not ideal for the Pokémon," Sina mentioned, "But it is not so bad for a temporary situation, and better than the streets for the Skiddo." Neither mentioned the fact that there wasn't enough room for all of the Skiddo that wandered into Lumiose from the west or... In all likelihood, some were excess from the Gogoat Shuttle.

Soon they went back around and to the front, and took the elevator to the second level. "This is where you will spend most of your time while actually in the lab, as this is where we house the majority of the projects being done here--though you'll go through the job rotation like any of us."

They took a right from the elevator and came upon a mechanism with a large glass cylinder on the top, voluminous enough for an adult to stand inside and have some room to wave their arms about. "This is the professor's Mega Evolution chamber. It works perfectly, but..." She grimaced a bit and shrugged. "Well, hopefully when you start working here officially, we'll be able to collect some proper data."

Right. There was a guy at the Tower of Mastery who said Aug-- _Sycamore_ had been there, but hadn't been able to master it himself. Then again, there was also some guy she'd talked to who said he was a womanizer, but that didn't really... Well, she'd chalked up his friendliness to Kalosian mannerisms, but he was about the only one like that, wasn't he?

...Whoops, spacing out again! Calem found her eyes had settled on--oh, convenient. A poster that detailed the parts and uses of the machine. "I, ah, actually brought all of the Pokémon I own--well, train, 'own' is a bit--I mean--what I'm trying to say, here, is that we could do some of that today, if that's... a thing that would be good?"

Sina shook her head. "Sycamore's in charge of that, and so he'd have to be here to direct the experiment and take readings. Cosette _could_ fill in if this were a time-sensitive issue, but you'll be back with us in a matter of weeks, so it doesn't seem necessary, at the moment."

"Right." Calem sighed a bit. She'd... rather hoped to be somewhat impressive, and that was about the only thing she could really claim was such, especially after she'd been taken to task so effortlessly by both Cosette and Sina earlier. "So, what's next? I don't think I even came to this floor last time I was here, I, eh... was a bit distracted with my own annoyance." Calem rubbed the back of her neck with a nervous chuckle.

"Most of these other stations are personal projects, run by those of us in the lab." Sina didn't seem to acknowledge the last bit, and Calem wasn't sure how to feel about that. "About the only exception is Cosette, whose main projects are working with the Pokémon housed downstairs and working with Sycamore on Mega Evolution and general study of his Garchomp. Otherwise- well, unless someone approaches you for help with their project, we tend to keep our hands to ourselves. That doesn't mean you cannot speak with others working here-- just don't touch anything that's not yours." Calemine nodded, before being led to an empty desk in the back corner, with computer, a few books, and a poster of DNA on the wall. "This will be your station, when you start. The poster and books will be gone, by then, as they belong to our last intern, who left a while ago. She still hasn't picked them up, but she has plenty of time to do so."

They didn't do much else on that floor, even if Calem was interested in the project near the elevator, just opposite of Sycamore's, but didn't have much time to look as Sina was already in the elevator.

The elevator dinged, and they got off on the third floor. "To the right, as you might remember, is Sycamore's personal work space. He doesn't mind being interrupted, and certainly wouldn't say anything about it, but it's still best not to disturb him while he's working there, if you can avoid it." Rather than go around the half-wall separating the office from the rest of the floor--Calemine wasn't sure whether it was because she'd already seen that months ago or if it had more to do with the fact that she had no business hanging around there anyway--she went towards the other end of the room. "This is our library. It's not particularly large, but we can send for books from the university library or any of the other laboratories as needed. The waiting area on the ground floor is intended for non-staff, but it's also used for staff taking a break; this area, on the other hand, can be used while waiting, but ought to be quite a bit more quiet, due to both the library atmosphere and the Professor's usual presence."

Calemine nodded, listening to what her guide had to say. When Sina seemed to be finished, Calem asked, "Say, you didn't point out which area was yours on the second floor. What is it you do around here?" There was a beat, before Calem continued with a stricken look on her face, "Not--I don't mean to imply I don't think you do anything--that's not--I just was curious what. Your field. Is. Yeah sorry."

Sina didn't look entirely satisfied with that apology, but she answered anyhow. "Dexio and I do field work for the Professor." Well, she sort of answered. "At any rate, that's the end of the tour! I was about to get lunch while I waited for Dexio or the Prof to get back. If you want to come with, that's fine with me."

Calem shook her head. "Thank you, but no thanks. I was at Le Yeah for some Pokémon training a bit earlier, and I'm still a bit full from that." Nauseous was more like, but that wasn't the point. "But, like, thanks. Really! I'd love to take you up on that some other time, get to know you a bit better, since we'll be working together and such, but... yeah." She shrugged.

Sina nodded and headed out, motioning for Calem to follow her. "Policy, after all," she said over her shoulder.

Once they were on the ground floor, Sina was out the door with barely a wave in Calem's direction. Calem tried to return it, but Sina was out of sight before she was able to react.

Halfway to the door herself, Calem paused and turned around, going up to the desk. Calem had to look back at the girl's nametag to remember what to call her, causing her to blush before she even began talking. "--Cosette, I, uh. Wanted to say before I leave. I'm sorry about earlier. I seem to have a knack for terrible first impressions, heh... But, like, I was acting like a dick. I really should have known to just... yeah. And sorry for... Just, like, me in general."

Cosette blinked and didn't offer any comment.

"Yeah, I don't... expect you to forgive me right away. Just letting you know that's a thing that, I, uh. Feel. And that I'm going to make an effort to stop being an ass in the future." Calem nodded and left quickly, her face still burning.


	11. Collaboration

"Why do you insist on drinking that?" Lysandre nodded to the cup in Sycamore's hands as they walked across Lumuiose. "You know perfectly well I'd give you one on the house at my café."

Augustine smirked. "Oh, you can buy me coffee later, mon cher. I know you love to treat me." 

Lysandre stiffened, keeping his gaze facing forward. "The fact remains that we went out of our way for this sub-par coffee." 

"It's chilly this morning, and I like it," Augustine said. "If it really offends you that much, though, I'll skip it in the future." 

A sigh escaped Lysandre's lips. "No, you needn't do that. I just don't understand you, I suppose." 

Augustine shrugged, much less theatrically than normal, and said, "What's there to understand? We all have our creature comforts." He slipped the hand that wasn't holding his coffee around Lysandre's arm and squeezed, looking up at the taller man. 

Lysandre, unsurprisingly, shrugged out of his hold, and put several centimeters of distance between them. "Professor Sycamore, that is incredibly familiar behavior for work associates such as ourselves, and you know why we cannot engage in such." 

Now it was Augustine's turn to sigh. "Yes, I understand, appearances. But we're not movie stars like Anthy is, she's the only one who has to worry about paparazzi for real. I don't see what harm there would be in as little as  _that_." 

"And I do not understand,  _Professor_ , why you cannot just accept the boundaries I have asked for." 

The rest of the walk was weighed down with a tense silence, until they finally made their way to Autumnal Avenue, and inside the door to Fleur-de-Lis Labs. 

Sycamore scarcely had time to put down his coffee before Lysandre's hands were on him, holding him close, lips pressing against his own-- then just as quickly broke away. "Patience is a virtue, Augustine," Lysandre whispered into his ear, sending chills up his spine. 

"We should get to business, though," Lysandre said, and walked further into the lab. 

It took Augustine a moment to catch his breath and catch up, saying, "You know you are an ass,  _Florian._ " 

Lysandre shot Augustine a look, but didn't respond. Sycamore knew Lysandre hated his first name, which was why he'd used it now, but perhaps he was starting to actually irritate Lysandre... maybe it was time to back off himself. So he took out his keystone, the one he got all those years ago at the Tower of Mastery... and never managed to master, after all. He and Lysandre got to work. 

During their (somewhat embarrassingly, employee-enforced) lunch break, Lysandre said out of approximately nowhere, "You really are starting to take them young, you know. At least Sina and Dexio are, what, their late twenties?" 

Augustine blinked. "Twenty five and twenty six, actually." 

Lysandre sighed. "Ten years is a bit much, but that Calemine girl said she was only twenty. Sixteen years' difference is nearly half your life, and you're actually considering dating her." 

"Now, hold on-- I explained to you yesterday, that wasn't a date." Augustine huffed in irritation. "You've been telling me things I know 'perfectly well' all morning, and yet here you are.  _You_ know perfectly well that I really do take new employees for a day on the town." 

"Yes," Lysandre said in a sarcastic drawl, "And yet I've never seen you in my café with one before yesterday. Nor do you usually have that love-sick expression. Others might not see it, but I  _know_ you, Augustine. I am quite aware she's just the sort you're drawn to, but she's practically a  _child_ , man. And a vile one, to boot." 

Augustine looked away uncomfortably. Was he really that obvious? That was... unfortunate. He'd have to do better about showing her favoritism in the lab. He'd... already shown in some capacity, months ago when he gave Calem the Charmander-- but that had had legitimate reasons, regardless of whether Calem was attractive-- as a man or a woman, given the unfortunately long case of mistaken identity. 

"So I  _am_ right. Nothing good can come of this, Augustine. She's childish, impulsive, trouble-making, and a poor study. The type of person that ruins everything they touch. You'll push her out the door the instant her internship is up, and keep her on desk duty until then, if you're wise." 

With a frown, Augustine said, "That's entirely unfair, Lys. You've barely even spoken with her! I'll take the legitimate concerns into consideration, but you are  _quite_ out of line." He angrily took a drink from his coffee-- a second cup, this one the promised one from Café Lysandre. "And why can't your café be connected to the labs, anyhow, when they're in the same building." It was a total non-sequitur, but something that did genuinely upset Augustine-- and would hopefully take Lysandre off of Calemine's case. 

Lysandre just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fire codes won't allow a door to be built between the two. I've explained this before." 

They bickered some more before returning to work. The mood was soured, though, and even bouncing ideas and doing chemical tests and all of that didn't have that same joyful energy as it used to. Granted, even this morning, before Lysandre had to bring up Calem, hadn't been the playful discovery of their youth. 

Still, Augustine could at least try to lighten the mood. "So, how has life been treating you, lately? I saw a new update for the holo caster went out a few days ago, has it helped-- ah, whatever it was supposed to help? I've never noticed any problems, so I'm afraid I can't tell the difference." 

A grunt from Lysandre, which for a moment Augustine was going to be his only answer, then-- "Business is fine. The update... patched a security risk."

"Oooh, sounds bad," Augustine said, "I'm glad to hear it's taken care of." Another grunt, and this time it actually wasn't followed by anything, so Augustine continued, "How about personally? I hope you're not over-working yourself, or at least not as much as I tend to." 

Augustine laughed at his own joke, but Lysandre didn't seem to react much at all. "I'm fine," he said, "just busy." 

Lysandre did tend to focus when they were working, so Augustine could understand the clipped answers, but he'd had so little time with his oldest boyfriend lately. "We're both so busy these days... we should take a break, a real day off, just for each other. Soon, mon coeur, I hardly know anything about you these days." 

"That's probably for the best." 

Augustine blinked at Lysandre's response. "What? You don't want to--?" 

Lysandre's eyes widened just a bit, then looked back at Sycamore for the first time this conversation. "No, ah-- we should make a date. That's all I meant." 

Maybe they could have an actual conversation, then, that wasn't bickering. If only working together on projects were as fun as it used to be, when they were in college, when they were getting their doctorates, before they'd gone their separate ways-- back into the education field for now Professor Sycamore, or into the business sector with Lysandre, focusing on profits more than knowledge, innovation only when it was lucrative. Augustine sighed. Perhaps. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're on to newly-written content! fun fact: I stopped writing this fic because I wrote and lost the beginning of this chapter three separate times.


	12. Crossed Wires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> calem hates her brain and talks her way into doing something she never really planned on.

> _Are you busy, Professor?_
> 
> _non, ma amie. what do you need?_

Arceus above, he cobbled together Kalosian and Unovan even in his texts. Calem wasn't sure she'd texted Sycamore before this, at least conversationally -- or perhaps just hadn't noticed.

She thought very seriously about asking Sycamore on that date via text. She'd save herself the awkwardness of asking... but any delay in answer would be excruciating. And honestly, it was rude. Sure, _she_ was rude, but that probably wasn't the best way to woo someone.

So fine, there was no way around it.

Calem hit the call button, and and the caster rang once, twice.

"Allo, Calem!" Sycamore's face appeared above her holo caster, barely larger than a doll's head, and significantly less colorful. "Is something wrong? I'm happy to help, assuming I can."

A deep breath in and out, and Calem was ready. "I have somethi--" and of course, a thought occurred in the middle of her question... Which, sure, intrusive thoughts weren't exactly new, but this one had legitimate reason to give her pause. "Actually, ah, are you alone? I don't, ah..." She didn't know how to explain without giving it away, so she just trailed off and rubbed the back of her neck, forcing her face into a strained approximation of a smile. It probably looked more like a grimace, but whatever.

Sycamore shook his head, which made Calem's heart sink and her finger hover over the end call button, but he elaborated, "No one else is here, I've actually retired for the night. Astonishing, I know. Work with Lysandre today was--" He looked aside and scratched the stubble on his chin. "Productive, but nothing more to be done today. But enough about me, what as it you needed? I can promise your privacy, whatever the issue."

Well, that was good. "I'm sorry to bother on a night off..." Why was she like this. Just ask the question. "I thought it'd be rude to just text you this, you know?" _Ask._ Shauna would be waiting for an answer, if nothing else, and Sycamore's little holographic bust was getting more and more worried looking by the second. "It's nothing bad!" Calemine said quickly, "no need to look at me like that."

"Then tell me, ma cherie, _what_ this is," Sycamore said, "the suspense is about to kill me."

"Ah," said Calemine. "You see." A breath. "I'm, ah..." Spit it out. "What would you..." A start. "Think of..." Getting warmer.

Calemine's eyes glanced around the room, lighting upon the semester calendar. There were hardly three weeks before the spring semester started, before she'd begin her internship for real.

"Before the semester starts, I think I'd like to visit Alola, actually, Molayne was an old friend of my father's and before I'm tied down here for sure, I think I'd like to visit him again, catch up. He's practically like an uncle, if one I don't see often. I mean he's closer to my family than my _actual_ uncles, so you know? And I dunno, even with all my dad's moves I never really went back after we moved away from it at like three years old so I thuoght maybe going to see it might be nice."

... _What in the actual fuck, Calemine._

It was hard to tell much about expression on the Professor's tiny projected image, but it seemed surprised, anyway. "I.. suppose that's your prerogative, Calem. I must admit, though, I'm not sure why the secrecy was necessary."

Haha, that was a good fucking question. It would be easier to admit her brain was deflecting and that that hadn't been her actual question, rather than come up with a bullshit excuse. "Well, I didn't want to make a stir with the others, Shauna and Serena or Sina and Dexio and the rest." And yet, here was the bullshit excuse. "If you have any business with Molayne, I could certainly bring it to his attention-- I know he's busy since he's that... uh, captain-y thingy, happened a few years ago." Which was a good point against her going, honestly. "Uh, I had a point originally..."

Sycamore shrugged, his dramatic shrug that even in the holo caster Calem could see, since his hands phased into existence at the edge of the 'frame', then dropped back down into nothing. "I see. Well, I... wish you happy travels, mon amie. I'm sorry if you find Kalos so stressful as to call for such a vacation."

"No, it's not--" Well, actually, Calem couldn't wholly deny that. Team Flare's activities were gearing up towards _something_ , it felt like, and she'd even had a Pokémon die here. It was only a Fletchinder, and Talonflame would've been mostly redundant with a Charizard on her team, but it was still a shock whenever that happened. And then, of course, she wasn't usually contending with the problem she was currently failing to face.

"It's fine, Calem," Sycamore said -- then chuckled. "Bring me a malasada, would you? I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem to take one onto a plane, or get stale at all."

Despite the garbage fire that was her mental state, Calemine couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, absolutely not. In fact, I should just mail it to you. That couldn't go wrong in any way at all."

Another chuckle. "So, when do you depart?"

Given that Calem had only decided on this trip about five minutes ago, she wasn't exactly prepared to answer that. "I, uh, wanted to get your approval before making any purchases, so..." Why could she come up with these lies when she _didn't want to_.

Not that she wanted to be definitively rejected any more, but... Oh well.

Calem continued, cutting off Sycamore, not even caring what he was about to say -- more small talk, probably. "In fact, I should probably go and order those tickets-- I hear they're cheapest in the middle of the night, yeah? It's-- not quite that now, but I'll be re-evaluating prices that long, I imagine. Later!" She grinned at the holo, one finger hovering over the end call button as her other hand waved, touched her lips and-- _what the fuck was she doing blowing a kiss???_ The call was ended now... hopefully her finger had connected before Sycamore could see that. What a mess of mixed signals she was. She'd be lucky if working with Sycamore wasn't hella awkward even if she miraculously got over this stupid crush in the next three weeks.

...There was no way she could bear to call Shauna and explain all this in detail. So instead, she texted.

> _I fucked up. I guess I'm going to Alola now, though._


	13. Connections

The restaurant was nice, more than Calem would likely pick out herself, but Molayne insisted he was paying. "You're like family, Calem! I couldn't let you pay."

So Calem had acquiesced. She even got an alcoholic drink- while she'd been old enough for a while in Kalos, today was actually her twenty-first birthday, so only today was she allowed to imbibe in any regions that had been annexed by Unova.

At least this wasn't straight wine, though. She could enjoy the flavor without getting into slurred words, but hopefully the slight buzz would make this visit less awkwad.

"So... how are you, then, Molayne?" she asked. "Doing good?"

Molayne smiled. "I'd like to think I'm doing good, but I'm at the very least doing _well_." Calem tried not to her eyes. That sort of pedantry was the sort of shit she'd pull herself, which was part of why it was irritating now. "You might notice some... _tension_ around town, if you decide to wander Po Town while you're here, but pay it no mind. I just thought I'd warn you."

Calem nodded. She wasn't particularly interested in politics regardless, so she shouldn't have any issue ignoring it.

"So how about you then, Calem?" Molayne asked. "Have you been eating well, keeping healthy? Accomplishments? I don't hear much from your father these days, not that he hears any more from me."

Ah, that. "I've been doing league challenges for money the past several years..." Calem admitted. "I'm taking a break from one right now, actually... but I'll be an intern under Professor Sycamore in Kalos once the new semester starts, so that's something." Calem grinned a bit uncertainly - while he wasn't a Regional Professor, Molayne was one of those kinds of people who'd gone through school quickly and became a professional at a young age, though Molayne went for technical science. Her father had been similar, his own path taking him through Unova's Air Force Academy and eventually back there to go into teaching, so her 'accomplishment' was a little underwhelming, comparatively.

...It occured to Calem how similar all that was to Professor Sycamore. Freud was rolling over in his grave somewhere, Calem was sure. Ugh.

On the other hand, it wasn't like Calem was vaguely interested in Molayne like that. She'd known him vaguely since she was in diapers, though, so that might have had something to do with it.

Also he didn't call her _ma chere_ every other word.

The rest of the meal was similarly awkward. Molayne, at least, didn't act as if it was awkward, but Calem wasn't sure if that made it better or worse. At least that's as long as it lasted - given that Molayne ran the observatory on Hokulani, and the region's storage system, _and_ was something called a Trial Captain, Calem was glad that he'd been willing to even spend this much time on short notice.

But... what else to do here. It was nice to visit the place she was born, kind of - but she had no fond memories, and this was the wrong island, anyway. The return plane to Kalos was only three days away, so there wasn't really time to take a ferry to Melemele and visit Hau'oli, to try to find the pink hospital, if it was even still there.

There was no real reason for her to have spent all this money on a single night of awkward conversation with an old family friend, who she didn't even have much family news for - while she thought well enough of Molayne, well, she'd intentionally put space between herself and her family.

So, she wandered Po Town aimlessly. Or at least she wandered the commercial, touristy outskirts of it- the actual town was a very fancy gated community, something that didn't look like it welcomed outsiders.

As Calem exited one of the gift shops, a Pokémon-drawn cart was driving down the road - which was odd enough on its own, honestly. But the gleam in the Rapidash's coat, not to mention the pale, colorless fire - a Shiny Pokémon was doing this kind of work? The man riding in the open carriage certainly seemed rich enough, with a white business suit and perfectly oiled purplish-black hair. A young girl, Calem assumed it was his daughter, sat next to him playing with a clearly Shiny Dedenne. She looked a lot less up-tight than her father, giggling and having fun with her pet, without the excuse of extreme youth to go on- she was probably a preteen?

Granted, Calem only saw the whole getup for a few seconds, as the Rapidash plunked its way down the road. It was good to see the kind of crowd she was dealing with, at least.

As Calem made her way further away from the center of town, though, the quiality of the shopfronts seemed to deteriorate, and she found herself at a dive bar - something she was, for some reason, much more comfortable in than fancy restaurants. At least Le Yeah had the decency to provide battles to divert tension; Calem couldn't even remember the name of the place Molayne had taken her, but it was... well, probably fine, just colored in retrospect... shh.

At any rate, even if she knew she was likely to get a wicked hangover tomorrow, the bar provided a good way to kill several hours worth of time and pretend like her Alolan vacation was even vaguely worth it. Why in the world she thought this was a good idea, she still wasn't sure.

So she drank, and as her mind loosened so did her jaw - mostly making sarcastic remarks to other folks, just polite enough not to start bar fights.

Or, rather, it mostly was. "Yeah, an' you're just a high school has-been, arntcha? Sports star who can't do shit in th' real world, right?" Which landed Calem with a punch in the jaw.

She touched it, gingerly. It didn't feel broken, but it hurt like a mother. Might have a chipped tooth, too. Well, Calem supposed she could mark getting punched in the face off her bucket list - as soon as she wrote it there.

" _Fuck_ , dude," she said, too loudly, voice cracking. "Lighten up a l'il, will ya? I'm a fuckin' has-been too, m'dude..."

About that time, another man approached from behind. "Lady, this guy givin' ya trouble? Ya boy can clean his clock for ya if you're too punch to drunk straight."

Calem startled at the voice, turning to look at the speaker- a man with thick white hair, baggly black-and-white clothes, and a thick gold chain around his neck. Calem thought 'gangstas' were supposed to have over-large, ridiculous pendants on their bling too, but she wasn't going to criticize anyone's appearance at this point.

"I mean... I'm fine, I'll just pay and go," Calem said, too tired to deal with anything.

The white-haired man raised an eyebrow. "He did hit you though, right?"

Calem shrugged. "Yeah-"

And before she could say anything, the white man's fist connected with the man's stomach. Sucker Punch wasn't particularly sporting, but it was a perfectly legal move - at least for Pokémon. Calem snickered to herself as she watched the fight unfold. It was less structured than a Pokémon battle, certainly, but still seemed to have a back-and-forth rhythm to it.

Both men were thrown out of the bar for their trouble, and Calem probably should've just left it at that, but she felt indebted to the white-haired man.

"Hey, dude!" she called when she was nearly caught up with him, but he didn't respond. "Tighty whitey!" Still no response... which was probably good, as that sounded like an insult the moment it came out of Calemine's mouth.

He didn't react to her at all until she had managed to tap him on the shoulder- which not only caused him to flinch, but ball up a fist, pulled back to throw a punch.

Calem jumped back too. "Whoa, big guy! Sorry, I just wanted to thank you for, uh, all tha' back there. Maybe buy you a drink - somewhere else, obviously."

The fist relaxed and opened, thrust forward in what took Calem a moment to understand was meant to initiate a handshake. "Not a problem, girlie. Name's Guzma, an' I'm destruction in human form." He grinned broadly, and Calem wondered if that was really something to brag about.

Still, it had helped her out. She took his hand and shook it once, perhaps a bit too tightly. "Calem. I, uh. I'm good at running away, I guess."

Guzma laughed loudly at that, and clapped a hand on Calem's shoulder. "Well, you ran to get me, so you're badass folk in my book, kid."

They found another dive bar and she bought him a drink, and found he was pretty funny - if sometimes unintentionally, poor guy.

Given she was actually intentionally talking to someone rather than being approached by random strangers, her speech was less pointed barbs and more whatever was on her mind.

Which, lately, was Sycamore.

"Kid, kid, listen- I've got the perfect solution," Guzma said, once Calem had rambled for entirely too long. "What you do is this-"

There was a pause, and Calem wasn't sure if Guzma was doing it for dramatic effect or thinking. "Yeees?" she asked, to make sure he knew he had her attention, as well as to make sure she had his. Also to make sure that he actually was the focus of her attention, alcohol was making everything a bit fuzzy.

"You call him. Right here, right now. Ask him out, straight up, just 'Hey, my dude, do you wanna date and shit?'"

Calem blinked. "I _tried_ that already, dude, but my asshole brain thought, 'Hey! hey, you know what would be better than all that? going to Alola!' because my brain fuckin' hates me, I guess."

Guzma nodded. "Yeah, ya said. But right now, right here, you're fuck as drunk. The shit is anxiety when you're druntank as a skuntank? Also-" Guzma jabbed a thumb in the direction of his chest, "Ya got me this time."

Calemine made a noncommital noise. "I mean-"

"I ain't done," Guzma cut her off. "You call him on your fancy hologram phone. You ask him out. And _then_ \- you get an answer. He says yes, you're good as gold! You get to do your schmoopy shit an' be on your way. He says nah, boy? Blame the alcohol - an' me, of course. Tell 'im you made a new drinking buddy, who thought it'd be _hilarious_ to drunk dial and confess to whoever it was."

It sounded like a good idea at the time.

"Heyyy, Augustiiine," Calem said to the Professor's bust, hovering over her holo caster. The unit had been placed on the bar, and the hologram's projected size maximized - still not quite life size, given it was a cheap travel model, but it was easier to see than the previously six-inch image.

"Ah, Calem," the Professor responded.

Before he could say anything else, he was cut off by a wolf whistle from Guzma. "Damn, I can see why you like him so much!" Guzma added, unhelpfully.

Calem shot him a look, then returned to the caster. "Hey, 'Fessor, when I get back, d'ya- d'ya wanna go on a date? I wanna like, kiss you an' shit, and I think we should definitely date yeah. Wow you are pretty."

Sycamore's face crumpled, and he gave a lopsided grimace. "Calem, you're drunk. Drink water so you don't get a hangover. We - we should talk again once you're sober."

The hologram winked out, and Calem turned to face Guzma. "That didn't help anything, you shit. Your bullshit excuse better work..." She pouted, and stuck her tongue out. Even if things did fall into super-awkward territory, it wasn't this dude's fault. "And what the hell was that?"

"The fuck was what?" Guzma asked, faintly grinning.

Calem poked a finger at Guzma's chest- and accidentally connected. Whoops. "The whistle shit! You don't look gay, were you just, fuckin' with me for shits 'n' giggles or what?"

One of Guzma's eyebrows shot up. "An' you don't exactly look straight, girl, but I guess we're all full of fuckin' surprises."

Calem barked a laugh. "I'm super not straight, my dude."

Keeping the brow raised, Guzma grinned and gestured vaguely at himself. "Amazing where not stereotyping will fuckin' get ya."


	14. Communication

"Hokulani Observatory is at the forefront of astronomical discovery," the tour guide said brightly. She was really cute, honestly - soft brown hair styled in an adorable bob, pudgy enough to be soft curves nearly everywhere, confident, constantly smiling - though the latter two might be part of her job. "The light pollution is almost negligible, with Alola being hundreds of miles from mainland, and Mount Hokulani high enough elevation that Hau'oli doesn't affect too much. All this means that this telescope right here-" She gestured to the large contraption behind her, so large that it nearly touched the domed roof- "has the clearest pictures of space from anywhere on this planet. Of course, telescopes in orbit are another matter- but there's something really exciting about sitting down at the eyepiece and seeing the beauty of the universe yourself. Not photographs, not artists renditions- the actual thing."

Calem grinned as the guide spoke. It had been years since she'd given up her own dream of working in any kind of astronomy or astrophysics - as it turned out, classical physics was _boring as shit_ \- but the child in her still loved to hear about it, loved to see others as passionate as she herself had been.

Given the tour group at the moment was herself, two local high school students (according to the nametags clipped to their bags), and a rich-looking teen girl who seemed interested in anything and everything around her, Calem thought she wasn't going to steal too much attention away regardless, so- "I dunno, at least _some_ of the universe's beauty seems to be right here." The guide startled, and Calem winked.

The young woman- Marzanna according to her nametag- chuckled a bit nervously, then walked ahead. "In the next room, we have some of the computers that analyze the data collected here."

Yeah, flirting with someone while they were in customer service of any kind was pretty shitty, wasn't it. Calem mentally kicked herself, and tried to make up for it by reacting to questions and showing her genuine interest in the field- probably what she should have done in the first place, but oh well. It was a bit late for that now.

A few rooms on, and the teen girl spoke up. "Hey, miss?" she said, "Are you guys connected to the university here, or are you privately owned or whatever?"

Marzanna gave the teen an odd look. "A bit of both, I guess? We do have official connections to the university, and the telescope itself is owned by Alola U, but much of the automation is Captain Molayne's intellectual property. Why do you ask?"

The girl shrugged. "I'm more into history, but this place seems really cool, I guess? When I'm in college next year, it might be neat to come here. And knowing daddy probably can't touch it doesn't hurt either~" She grinned brightly.

Daddy? Calem realized after a moment- this girl wasn't in as frilly of a dress, and with her dark hair up in a ponytail she looked different, but this was almost certainly the girl she'd seen in the carriage yesterday. She'd never have guessed that this girl was late teens, or even into puberty- but then, Calem's own puberty hadn't exactly been dramatic, either, with her nigh-flat chest and lack of ass or hips. Wearing men's pants almost fit her better than women's, even; so it wasn't like she was one to judge.

Marzanna chuckled at the girl, though looked a bit uneasy. "If Kahuna Nance wanted to do something, he probably could. Especially when that market down south opens up- but then, the boost to the economy will only help the Observatory to teach more people. I don't think there's any reason to worry, Acerola."

The teen crossed her arms and grumbled to herself for a moment. "Just don't go to him if you need funding, I guess," she said, a bit more loudly, "or free tours like this will go the way of the Archen."

Well, Calemine supposed that was some of the tension Molayne was talking about. Whatever, Calem wasn't here to hear about that. "So, what does Molayne do, exactly? I sort of know him, but he didn't really want to talk about all this-" Calem waved a hand in the general vicinity of everything around them- "when I spoke with him last, so I'm curious, I guess."

"Oh!" Marzanna said, "Well, I hadn't intended to take you guys through the storage system rooms, but it's not off limits of tours, or anything, just not on the usual path. Here, let me show you-" and they were off, down a different hallway.

It was nice to hear about what Molayne did from someone who wasn't so dismissive of it- though it really did drive home the fact that Calem's progress was pitiful compared to her parents and their friends. Mom was working on a Master's degree in... human biology of some kind, Calem never had understood what. She was doing this even several time zones away from the university she'd started at, and taking the opportunity to study abroad. Her older brother wasn't into the sciences, but was a published author.

And Calemine hopped from region to region, squandering any net gain she got from leage challenges, never putting enough effort into any one subject to amount to anything.

Eventually, though, the tour ended. The two disinterested sudents had slips of paper that they asked Marznna to sign, and were quickly out the door. Marzanna rolled her eyes at them, and said to her remaining two tourists, "I hope you guys enjoyed the tour! It's always nice to have folks who care about the subject. Will you be coming back soon?"

Acerola shook her head. "I'm definitely not _supposed_ to be out and about today, but I couldn't stand staying inside the mansion all day. I don't care how big it is, it's too stuffy." She puffed out her cheeks in irritation, though it was more adorable than anything. "So I'll probably be grounded when I do get back home. And anyway, I'm working on... a few projects, I guess! Today was one of the last days I'm probably not gonna be busy for a while, setting things just right. Dunno when I'll be able to act on things, but lots of prep still to go, I guess!" She grinned brightly at the two of them.

"How about you, uh..." Acerola hesitated. "Molayne's friend? I dunno if you ever said your name."

Calem laughed. "I guess I didn't! I'm Calem, nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand to shake, and Acerola took her up on it. Looking between the tour guide and the- heiress, maybe? Calem explained, "I'm only here for a few days, actually. I'm in the middle of a league challenge in Kalos, and taking a last vacation before I start an internship next semester with Professor Sycamore."

Both girls nodded, and Marzanna said, "Well, if you come back in town, be sure to stop by again! I'd be happy to give you another tour." The way she winked at Calem gave her heart a flutter. Ah, she was always so weak for big eyes like Marzanna's.

Acerola asked, "So, what're you doing for the rest of today, any plans? Because I wanna do more stuff today, but having a friend along is always better, and a friend of Molayne can't be too bad!"

Calem wasn't sure she followed the logic, but what the heck. "Nah, my schedule's clean. What d'ya feel like doing?"

With a shrug, Acerola said, "Just explore, I guess! Dad's really weird about letting me go places, so I just wanna see what I can!"

"Sounds fine to me. Let's go," Calem said, and started to walk away.

"Hey, actually, wait a moment," Marzanna said, digging around under the front desk. "I've got something for you- we usually give these out as promotional things, but I..." Marzanna blushed. "I dunno, I thought you'd like it." She seemed to find what she was looking for, and handed Calem a shiny blue rock. "It's called a Comet Shard, though it's not _actually_ from a comet, any more than Star Pieces or Stardust is from actual stars. Still, it's thematically space related, and pretty, and- I guess I was hoping you'd remember me." She glanced away, tucking some of her hair behind her ear out of nervous habit.

Calemine's eyes glittered at the site of the stone, and took it gingerly. "I-" Calem hadn't mentioned her interest in geology, so Marzanna couldn't know how good of a gift this was for her. "Absolutely, and thank you," Calem said. "Hey, can I get your number, actually? No reason not to keep in contact, I guess."

Marzanna grinned, and found a slip of paper to write her number on; Calem did the same.

(Perhaps this was for the best, Calem thought- even a long distance relationship, if she could get one to happen, was probably much wiser than confessing anything to Sycamore.)

A moment later, Calem was being tugged outside by her new friend, and directed towards the Exeggcutor Express- Calem had walked up the mountain path from Po Town, and it was nice to see she wouldn't have to walk back down it, at least not right away.

The garden in Malie City was nice, and they both got ice cream cones. Acerola insisted on paying, which Calem had to object to on moral principle- but not too strongly. The younger girl even left a frankly ridiculous tip for the attendant in the stand, and Calem smiled. It was nice when folks who _could_ do that, did.

Acerola took her shopping, though mostly the teen bought things for herself, and Calemine commented on how the clothing looked, or that was a good deal, etcetera. All Calem bought was a carved statuette, labeled by the shop as a Strange Souvenir. The name was so on the nose that Calem couldn't resist.

Afternoon turned to evening, and after a dinner at the Sushi High Roller - significantly cheaper and less snooty than the one in Lumiose City, it turned out - Calemine convinced Acerola that it was probably time to get home.

With an irritated sigh, Acerola said, "Yeah, okay. You're probably right." There wasn't a convenient way around the mountain that didn't go the whole length of the island, so they rode the bus back up, and then a ski lift down the other side - Calem hadn't even noticed there was a skiing area, or the lift's hut at the bottom. Well, at least it saved her tired feet from any more pain now that she knew about it.

Calem walked Acerola all the way to the gates of Po Town proper. Children went on trainer journeys all the time, but Calem wasn't sure if the girl had any Pokémon with her - granted, Calemine didn't either, due to customs, but two people were less likely to get jumped than one, anyway.

"Thanks for hanging out with me!" Acerola said with a wave, then put a passcode into the terminal beside the gate; it opened, she waved again, and slipped inside.

Calemine sighed, and walked back to the hotel she'd booked at the edge of town.

In her room, she finally put Marzanna's number into her holocaster, and sent a text - _in case you didn't put my number in yet, it's calem! hi :)_ then put the device aside to watch television in the room.

There was a buzz from it not long after, but she ignored it; Calem didn't want to come on too much too fast, given the way she'd started flirting before talking about common interest this morning. A hello text was good, but much more - probably not wise.

So many commercials between shows, on whatever channels she flipped through, seemed to be for malasada. She and Acerola had walked by a malasada shop, but hadn't been hungry at the time. Now, though, the sizzling golden-fried treats on screen made her mouth water. Tomorrow was her last day here, maybe she could try to get one before she left.

Tonight, though, she should really call Professor Sycamore, and clear the air about... that whole mess with the drunken confession.

No matter what, things were going to be a bit awkward, but she needed to minimize the damage. That Guzma fellow's excuse seemed legitimate, even more so now that she wasn't drunk- 'new drinking buddy just thought it would be hilarious to see drunken confession' seemed like the actual, factual situation. He was pretty amusing, but... eh.

She should wait for a bit longer, though. There was a thirteen hour difference in time zone - Calem couldn't remember whether that was thirteen hours ahead or behind, but either way, it was very nearly the opposite time of day, there. The later at night it was here, the closer to the middle of the day it was there.

Finally, she found the nerve, and called.

"Calem, ma chere," he said, softly. "How are you? Not suffering too much, I hope?"

She snorted a laugh. "Hi, Prof," she said, "and I'm fine. I think my drunk ass actually listened to you with the water thing, I woke up pretty much okay?" Not entirely painless, but she'd taken some painkillers and walked up the steeper side of Mount Hokulani without much issue.

Sycamore grinned. "I'm glad to hear it!"

There was a pause. Calem didn't know how to start, but Sycamore didn't seem to know what else to say. Of course, they both found words at the same time.

"Ah, you go first," he said.

Calem shook her head, glad for any excuse to beat around the bush. "No, you! I'm fine, really, I'm not going to forget."

Sycamore shook his head as well. "I was only asking what you've been up to, if you'd seen anything interesting while there, and such."

"The observatory is really cool, I might have to see if I can work here some time in the future," Calem said, mostly meaning it- until she thought about having to be near Molayne all that time. "I met a really cute girl too," she added, trying to distract herself from that train of thought, "I even got her number!"

Sycamore's eyebrows went up a bit, and he smiled crookedly. "I see," he said after a brief pause, "congratulations."

Ah, right. She hadn't actually been out to the Professor before this, not to mention yesterday's phonecall.

Welp, Calemine couldn't really avoid it anymore. "Listen..." Calem said, "I'm- sorry about yesterday. Like you said, I was very drunk, and-" She couldn't quite bring herself to lie about how true her words had been. "New drinking buddy thought it would be hilarious, and it seemed like a good idea at the time... I hope this doesn't make things awkward."

Sycamore took a deep breath. "Non, ma chere, it shouldn't. Though, to be clear: was that playing a prank, or...?"

Damn. Calem had been hoping he'd infer for himself that it was 'just a joke' without making her say it.

And... she couldn't.

Calem put a hand over her face, covering her eyes and hopefully her blush - though the monochrome holograms probably wouldn't show such a small detail as blush anyway. "Fuck me, but it was sincere. I won't make trouble or anythi-"

" _Mon dieu_ ," Sycamore said. "I was hoping so, but I didn't want to coerce you."

Calemine looked up at the projection of Sycamore, who was running a hand through his hair and smiling faintly. "Wait- what?"

A chuckle came from the holocaster, then, "I didn't want you to think that you _needed_ to return any kind of affection in order to do well. I've... made that mistake before, and while that ended up turning out fine in the end, I didn't want to do that again."

Oooh, ouch. Still, "I'm less surprised at the ethics thing than that you give a shit about me?"

"Of course I care, Calem!" Sycamore said, a little more forcefully than necessary. "First of all, each and every one of my league students are precious to me-"

"Exactly," Calem said. "Don't see any reason I should stand out, I guess, aside from being a washed-up has been."

Sycamore gave a lopsided frown. "Asking _why_ someone has feelings won't really get anyone anywhere, though to be frank your wit, your insight, your willingness to try new things- there's plenty to be proud of in you."

Calem felt herself smile a bit. "Thanks." She hesitated, then added, "So, when I get back... how do you feel about that date?"

Sycamore chuckled. "The lab will be mostly closed for a holiday break soon, so... yes, that sounds pleasant."

After the call, Calem smiled to herself. It hadn't ended up going as planned, but it was still thanks to that Guzma fellow that this had happened at all. It was a shame she hadn't gotten his number, she thought. Well, even if he wouldn't personally know, maybe she could at least send good karma his direction.


	15. Calm, For Once

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calem takes an introspective on her last day in Alola.

_Damn_ , Calem's thighs were sore. She thought she was in pretty good shape with all the walking and biking she did on the league circuits, but Acerola had zipped around like a bottle rocket. It hadn't bothered Calemine any the day before, but apparently the next day was the perfect time for her muscles to complain.

Clearly, sitting around in her cheap-ass hotel reading pamphlets provided in the room was the best use of her time here. Information that could have been found online. _Ugh_. What a fucking mess she was.

Still, just because she could have found it didn't mean she would have thought to look for it. The Trial system sounded like it was a lot more laid-back than the typical League circuit. Traditionally, it was open only to eleven-year-olds, and each person only had the one shot-- it was a rite of passage into... well, not exactly adulthood, but at least more responsibility. The Professor of this region seemed to be spearheading efforts to broaden the challenges. It was still a far cry from a concerted League, especially without hide nor hair of an Elite Four or Champion, but it certainly looked promising. It... might be nice to come back in a few years to try it out. After she finished her semester here, perhaps more, got as much credit as she could from internships and field courses, took a year to actually study the damn books and take the last few classes... to get her associate's degree, which was a pittance, really.

But still, someday. But would she ever have the time? Probably? Maybe. ...Doubtful.

Calem sighed and tossed the pamphlet to the desk she sat at-- with a very anticlimactic flutter. So she cursed aerodynamics and kicked the leg of the desk in frustration, then cursed her brain for intentionally stubbing her toe. Damn her sore muscles, she needed to get out.

She wandered aimlessly around town for a bit, until a sign caught her eye-- a Malasada shop. Hm. Well, she might as well see what all the fuss was about.

When Calem bit down into the crunchy, flaky fried crust and the citrusy sweet-sour filling, she had to pause to savor the taste, the smell, the feeling of the crunch that was just enough to be satisfying, not enough to scrape up the roof of her mouth.

Okay, she could admit, this is _really_ fucking good.

After that, though, she still felt antsy and like Doing Something Worth Coming To Alola For. But what? She wandered south, the only way she hadn't gone in the previous two days. Rather than a paved path with obvious signage like the way between Po Town and the peak of Mount Hokulani, or even the carefully manicured beauty of the town (at least what she could see outside the gated community), the south of town just... petered out into nothing in particular. Clearly there was a path here, but it didn't seem to be towards any kind of tourist attraction, just a nature-worn footpath.

Calem followed her curiosity, regardless of its fatality to metaphorical Cat Pokémon, and followed the path into denser and denser trees. Eventually, she came to a field full to bursting with very fragrant red flowers, growing low to the ground and so thick that even this far into the morning, the transpiration mist still hung around their buds. Or, well, the boardwalk seemed a bit unnecessary, unless-- rather than stepping on the ground herself, Calem took a stick and prodded the ground, only to find it was several inches of water covered by a thick lichen, or something. So not exactly what tourists would want of their Tropical Paradise, but beautiful nonetheless.

If she came back, she'd love to explore the... glade, would that be? Or perhaps 'bog' is more accurate, or 'fen'? Whatever it was classified, seeing what could be found here seemed like a fun time... to spend a few days on, and probably a full day preparing for, getting boots that were tall enough, or the like. So for now, for today... for this year, perhaps this decade, Calem stayed on the boardwalk. She really hoped that this would still be here whenever she found time to come back.

She didn't have to be disappointed about the late discovery for long, though, as she spotted a sign-- painted dark brown and bright goldenrod, like most national park signs Calem knew of from mainland Unova and Orre, but very weather-worn. The paint of the lettering had been peeled away so much as to be illegible, but the carving spelled out what the paint no longer could: _Lake of the Sunne Ruins -- >_

Well. _That_ certainly seemed like an adventure.

…

……

………………………

Adventure ended up being a bit of a strong word for it. Interesting, perhaps, but not especially thrilling. The structure in the center of the lake, the hallway leading to it, were barren in a way that had Calem kind of spooked, honestly. Similar to the feeling the Standing Stones at Geosenge had given her, strangely, though the architecture was very different. Calemine hadn’t even taken so much as an elective in high school on anthropology or ancient ruins, so she couldn’t say how it was different, aside from the obvious “bunch of stones in ground vs a building with an altar thingy” but… still. 

The other tunnels that led to other points across the lake were in much worse disrepair than the entry tunnel had been, which was… a feat. They were almost entirely caved in, and while Calem wasn’t against wandering places she oughtn’t go, this seemed like a uniquely bad time and place to go exploring on mossy, slippery, pointy rocks in a lake that no one seemed to care about… with no Pokémon to aide, given the cheap visa she’d gotten… a Holo Caster that was one of the most sensitive mobile devices she’d ever used, and so much as looking sideways at the water might make it go on the fritz… and again, rocks-- both natural and ruined structure-- that looked slick enough to slide off of with any wrong move, and sharp enough to give her a decent head wound on the way down.

Maybe it was time to turn around.

Still, the dais in the middle, the columns with the solar iconography… Wasn’t there an Alolan Pokémon associated with that? It was… a strange, sad thing to see such heritage rotting away here, so close to such a thriving, wealthy town. At least, Calem noted on her way out of the place, this entrance tunnel had been reinforced with concrete and perhaps metal structural supports.

Acerola’s words from yesterday rang in her head. “Better not ask for Daddy for funding,” she’d said, “or else these free tours will go the way of the Archen.” Or… something of the sort. Calem wondered if this had been deemed unprofitable.

Once she’d reached the entrance again, she turned around to look at the structure, and sighed. “I hope you’re still here when I come back, too.” She leaned forward and kissed the stone of the wall. Calem wasn’t entirely sure why she did that, or even why she felt so attached to this place over the course of an afternoon… but it was shady, only the central platform was really free from tree cover, and while the stillness of the air and the absolute emptiness sort of sent a chill down Calem’s spine, that same quiet stillness was very… soothing, in a melancholy sort of way.

When Calem fell into her seat in the plane that evening, calves aching even more than they had when she’d left earlier, she’d made up her mind to come back to Alola. She didn’t remember much from her toddlerdom, and had never really felt too attached to this place, beyond the Fun Fact that “Hey, I was born in Alola!” allowed people to think Calem was an interesting person at parties. She was a Military Brat, offspring of the institution that colonized Alola in the first place, moved away before she could form any solid memories. She had no right to call this place home, yet… Despite the pain in her muscles, this day had been one of the best she’d had in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trying to do Camp NaNo to finish up Calemine. whoo! maybe.


	16. Contact

Calem could have sent a text to Augustine the moment the plane had come to a stop, when the electronics of the contraption wouldn’t be interfered with by phone and wifi signals. But she wasn’t very dextrous with the keyboard, and how long would it take until she was expected to disembark, and put her holo caster back in her carry-on, and… Excuses, excuses. As usual. 

The only bag she had brought with her was the carry-on, so at least she could just walk out the front of the Lumiose Airport and avoid the luggage wait. Perhaps more importantly, she could avoid the lack of excuse about letting anyone know she was home, or… back in Kalos, anyhow.  

And honestly, he might be asleep by now, right? It was… about ten o’clock PM according to her holo. Not unreasonably late, but a decent time to be getting to sleep. She definitely didn’t want to bother the Professor by waking him up. 

Regardless, something in Calemine wanted to  _ know _ . She had no idea where his house, or flat, or whatever might be was, but she could swing by the lab to see if the light of his office area was on or not, with ready-made excuse that she was just going to the Lumiose South Pokémon Center for trainer lodging. Nothing suspicious there, she just… wanted to see him without him knowing she was there. 

That didn’t sound stalker-ish in the  _ least _ . 

Even with that self-awareness, though, Calemine was… still walking down South Boulevard, looking hopefully towards the southern-most point of the city where the laboratory stood. And… then a bit past her supposed destination, because the viewing angle from the Center wasn’t particularly informative. 

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Sycamore was not only still in his third-floor office, but was leaning on the open windowsill, coffee in hand, taking in the sights of the city at night. 

Calemine startled as she realized this, and tried to hurry back the ten feet or so to the Center’s entrance, but heard what was definitely his voice saying, “Ah, Calem!” and something that she didn’t quite catch. Still, she couldn’t very well pretend she hadn’t heard at all, so she looked up again and waved, hoping to just go into the Center afterward… but no, Augustine was gesturing broadly to get her to come inside, and even spilled some of his coffee on the grass below. 

Apparently, there was no pushing this off to later. Calemine looked up and cursed the streetlight above. Of course, this  _ was _ known as The City of Light, even named for it.  And even if it weren’t, someplace like a Pokémon Center was nearly always well-lit, any hour of the day or night. 

Stewing on the reasons why Calem was ‘caught’ didn’t change the fact. So she took a breath, and walked into the lab. 

A moment after the elevator door closed, Calem realized that… well, her carry-on back to Alola hadn’t  _ technically _ been much different than her normal travel gear, sans a few metal objects like her bike, but she probably could have used unpacking as an excuse to push this off until tomorrow. If she’d thought of that on time, but of  _ course  _ she hadn’t. 

On the other hand,  _ why _ was Calemine so anxious? Night before last-- or day, given time zones, but whatever-- she’d already  _ done _ the hard part. The confession of feelings was already out there, and the rejection never materialized; but that was just it, wasn’t it? Somehow, knowing--

And then the elevator dinged, and opened up to the third floor, and a smiling Augustine awaited, coffee thankfully no longer in hand. 

Or, ah… well, thankfully, Calem  _ had  _ thought, so that he wouldn’t spill any more of it around the lab, or on her, but when he took her hand in his as she stepped out of the elevator, she was... less sure about that assessment. 

It was only a few moments before he let go of it, though. Did he notice Calem’s limp fish of a hand-holding technique? Or had he thought better of it for some other reason?

“Ma cher, it’s good to see you,” he said, “though I suppose you must be tired from your flight, aren’t you? I suppose that hadn’t quite occurred to me when I asked you up here.” Sycamore shrugged, rather less dramatically than usual. Huh. “Though if you’d like to stick around, I can cook something up for you. It won’t be especially gourmet I’m afraid, but nearly anything is better than airplane food, is it not?” 

Sleep, or food she didn’t have to make herself or pay for… Avoiding conversation, or being able to get it over with while also having the excuse of being in the middle of chewing if something was too hard to comprehend right away…

As tempting as sleep was, allowing an out of conversation was enough to sway Calem’s anxiety-brain in favor of food and  _ finally _ facing this…  _ whatever  _ this was. 

“Yeah, all right,” Calem said. “So, what, do you keep a mini-fridge in the lab or something to eat while working?” 

With a chuckle, Augustine answered, “There  _ is _ one in the lounge here, somewhere, but mostly I just keep everything in my apartment upstairs.” 

Oh. That explained… well, not exactly a  _ lot _ , but a decent amount, anyway. 

“Ah,” he said after a moment, “it’s only accessible via the elevator.” ...Right, Calem had been spacing a bit again. She chuckled and shrugged, aiming for nonchalance, and stepped back in. 

Sycamore turned a key below the button panel, which seemed to react as a button itself; a moment later, they were stepping out into his flat. 

It was pretty small, truth be told, but nice. The contoured roof of the outside made itself obvious in the dips and curves of the ceiling; and the circular window above the third floor that Calem had assumed was purely decorative probably let in a decent amount of light during the day, while its distance from the ground probably provided privacy. 

As Calem looked around and eventually sat down on the loveseat, Sycamore started looking through his kitchenette’s freezer. “Do you have any preferences? Allergies?” he asked.

Calem shook her head, then remembered that neither person was looking at the other. “Ah, no, I’m not picky. Not especially fond of, ah… Escargott, I think it’s called? The snail thing?” She chuckled, continuing, “Not that you’d have that frozen, but… much less than that, no, nothing I care about.” 

There was a moment of quiet stillness, then a bit more rummaging and then Augustine was walking over to Calem without even having closed the freezer door. 

“I beg to differ,” he said, and handed the box to Calem. “And the ‘t’ is silent, ma cherie.” 

Indeed, it was… frozen escargot. “Huh,” Calem said. A moment later, “Well color me damned. Yeah, all right.” She handed the box back to the Professor, then watched him put it back-- and  _ finally _ close the freezer, thank fuck, even for moments at a time like that it  _ bothered _ her when folks did that-- and… yeah, it really wasn’t just Augustine. The Professor, Her Boss, had taken her to his home and was making her food. 

“Anything both savory and slimy isn’t great, then,” Calem said, trying not to think about All That Uncomfortable Stuff. “I mean, soup’s okay, or if it’s like, rice or chickpeas that’s one thing, but octopus and squid and oysters and snails and-- that’s all bad.” 

Sycamore laughed. “Noted,” he said, and picked out two things not much later. 

The beeping of the microwave as he input the cooking time seemed to echo through the quiet, slightly cramped room. It was a bit too harsh, as was the fluorescent overhead light above the kitchen. There wasn’t a light above the loveseat, just a tall lamp to one side of the room and a smaller one on the end table. 

“So, how was sunny Alola?” he asked, standing behind the loveseat, leaning heavily on the back of it. The side that Calem hadn’t taken. Unfortunately? Thankfully?

It took Calem a moment to respond. “Really nice. It’s been… way too long since I’ve been, really.” A thought occurred, and she sniffed a laugh before continuing, “Thanks for being a stick in the mud and helping me prevent a hangover, by the way.” On realizing how terrible that sounded, Calem’s grin faltered. 

He didn’t seem to mind though. “Well, I’m glad I could help, ma belle,” he said, and smiled back. 

Silence that can’t have been more than a few moments, yet felt like forever. 

“Sooo…” Calemine said, “anything interesting happen lately?” 

“Just you,” he said. 

“...Ah.” 

Saved by the bell-- or rather, the electronic ding from the microwave. Augustine went to the microwave, moving things around that Calem didn’t bother watching. Some more buttons were pushed on the microwave judging by the beeps, and clattering of dishes being rifled through and slid out from under each other, of cabinets being opened or shut. 

Another minute, and he had handed Calem a plate with something that resembled a pot pie (if a bit larger than she was used to) and a fork. “Careful, ma bichette, it’s still quite hot.” 

After having taken the plate, Calem had immediately taken the fork and was about to dig in. “I know that,” she said, and proceeded to poe the top of the crust several times. “I’m not a  _ kid _ .” Still, she pouted like one. 

That drew a laugh from Sycamore. “Yes, I’m…” He hesitated and looked away. “I am aware of that,” he said, and took that moment to go back to the kitchenette. 

Ugh.  _ Ugh _ . Spending time with someone you had a crush on, and who already confirmed that those feelings weren’t from nowhere, shouldn’t be this… strange. Not even really a good kind of strange. Maybe it was just the exhaustion from being cooped up in a flying metal box for something like fifteen hours. 

Calemine churned the meaty sauce and vegetables and pie crust around with her fork for a bit, before losing patience and just blowing on a scoopful of it until it stopped visibly steaming. It was… really good, and not what she’d been expecting at all. Certainly not chicken, like she was most familiar with, and probably not beef. There was a sweet quality to the sauce that Calem was tempted to say was a hint of wine. 

She very nearly started to speak with her mouth full, but bit her tongue. That seemed a bit too rude for how nice the Professor was being, here.  _ The. Professor. _

“Mind if I sit here?” Augustine’s voice startled Calem out of her miniature spiral. She hadn’t even noticed him walk over, and yet here he was, plate in hand, leaning on the far arm of the small couch. 

Once she recovered her senses, Calem scoffed and said, “I mean, it’s your house, dude. You can do what you want.” 

Augustine raised an eyebrow and smiled crookedly. “All right, then. Would it make you uncomfortable in any way for me to sit here.” 

Well, yes, Calem’s mind was saying-- but that wasn’t really a fair question, anxiety brain makes everything uncomfortable. 

“Go ahead, I’m fine,” she said, and motioned for him to sit, a cue he took. “By the way, this is fucking delicious. They make this kind of thing frozen?” 

“They do,” he said, “Pokárd’s is a gift from Xerneas to miserable cooks like me.” He shook his head, and reached for the remote to turn on his tiny flat-screen television. “Anything particular you’d like to watch?” 

Calem shook her head no. “Don’t really watch tv much, haven’t since I’ve started the--” She stifled a yawn, then continued, “the whole league circuit... roundabout thing… and interning places. Also that is a really small television, I didn’t know they…  _ made _ them that small.” 

Augustine seemed satisfied with that answer, as he flipped the channel a few times and ended on Pokémon Planet. 

The dork even watched at least vaguely-science themed shows to unwind, wow. 

“Truthfully, I don’t think they do,” he said, “it’s actually a computer monitor. Still, all the wires have their ports, and I usually don’t have company, so.” 

With a chuckle, Calemine said, “Nice.” For several minutes, they watched and ate in relative silence. 

About halfway through the pie, Calem started to worry that she was losing her potential out of an uncomfortable conversation-- which may not come on its own, but… if Sycamore said something too late, well. “So, ah, I got the feeling the other night that we’d, ah… have some things to Talk about.” 

Augustine shook his head. “You’re exhausted, ma chere, we can do this some other time.” 

_ But right now she has excuses to be less than attentive and to duck out of uncomfortable questions for a moment via eating. _

“No, ah.” Calem cleared her throat. “Thank you, I appreciate it, but I’d prefer to get through this sooner rather than later, it would… really take a weight off my shoulders, and I’m hoping yours too. I mean-- if you don’t know what you’d wanna, ah, say or decide or whatever yet I guess that wouldn’t help either of us, but--” Calemine ran out of breath and inhaled sharply, continuing, “But while maybe yeah it might be a good idea to talk again later and make sure we didn’t decide anything that’s just Straight Up Fucking Stupid As Shit because we’re tired or something, at least nailing down the basics would be great and I don’t want to pressure you but at the same time dealing with This Anxiety Bullshit is the main reason I went to Alola and I’d really like to get it Dealt With sooner rather than later.” 

Calem took another breath, deeper this time. 

With a chuckle, Augustine said, “Understood, ma cherie. Don’t suffocate yourself on my account, though.” 

She tried to laugh, but started coughing instead. She managed to calm herself, but lifted a finger to indicate she’d be a little longer before she could breathe normally or talk again. 

“Not a problem, Cale,” Augustine said, “I guess I’ll take this moment to lay out my side of the issue, then. First and foremost: the moment you get uncomfortable with anything, please tell me. I’m… I  _ try _ to work well with any partner, but I’m not always the most thoughtful. You will not face any kind of disappointment or professional reprimand for expressing discomfort, I promise. All right?” 

With a nod, Calem said, “Thanks,” and grinned. 

“Are you all right, then?” 

“Another moment, please,” Calem answered. 

Augustine smiled, “All right. There’s one other thing I need to say as soon as possible, anyhow-- I’m polyamorous, and that’s non-negotiable. I’m currently dating Sina, Dexio, and, well, Lysandre.” Calem’s eyebrows rose, but before she said anything Augustine continued, “I know you don’t get on well with Lys. I won’t ask you to share a space with him again, but I do need you to understand that the tension between the two of you doesn’t mean I love him any less.” 

Both were silent for a moment, then Calem managed, “Wow, uh. Okay. Dating… multiple folks at once seems weird, but whatever floats your boat, I guess?” Calem supposed that answered why Augustine seemed to be the only person being quite so over-friendly: it all really was genuine flirting. Or a lot, anyway, he’d been friendly to Shauna and Serena and Trevor and Tierno and while she hadn’t seen him interact with them a  _ lot _ she didn’t get a creep vibe from it, so… heh. 

“I’m… glad to hear that, I suppose.” One side of Augustine’s lips pulled into something like a smile, though with the way his brows knitted, perhaps that was a minor grimace. 

Calem bit her lip. Yaaay, she fucked up again. “If I’m an asshole about anything, feel free to tell me, then. Sometimes I mean to be, but I also just like… don’t know a lot of shit. I’ve dated one girl and had a crush on maybe like three other girls, but never had the nerve to ask any out.” Well, Calem somehow managed to get Marzanna’s number the other day, so that was ‘maybe four’ now. Whatever. 

“Good to hear that, though I’d likely do so anyhow, once I’ve decided how to word it,” Augustine said. “No worries for now, though. So, ah, with my piece in the open now-- was there anything you’d like to put on the table?” 

That sounded like the perfect time to take a bite of whatever this pie stuff was. Chewing, Calem thought about her issues, and tried to find a way to word them that she could actually get them to leave her mouth. 

Eventually, she swallowed and said, “I, ah… I’m not even sure what I’m…  _ wanting _ out of a-- from-- I’ve thought I was lesbian for a while, and like I said I’ve only even had one girlfriend, and she did most of the relationship leading. Aisling was the social one, at least compared to me, she liked to go to films and bring me places. About the, ah, only thing that I initiated as often as she did was, uhm.  _ Contact _ , if, ah…” Calem was an adult, why could she not talk about sex like one. 

At least Augustine seemed to understand. “Whatever you are or are not comfortable with is all right, ma sucre d’orge. I appreciate sharing time and intimacy with you, whatever form that comes in.” 

Calem smiled at him. “Thanks. Wow, that’s, ah… thanks. Actually, can I kiss you now?” 

Augustine chuckled lightly, and said, “Absolutely, ma cher.” He leaned forward on the couch-- the loveseat, really, and it did feel comfortably snug rather than crowded by now-- he leaned forward, holding her eyes with his own, a… very pretty blue-grey color that could probably be described poetically, but Calemine wasn’t a poet. He reached up and touched the edge of her jaw with the tips of his fingers, just the hint of movement pulling her forward. 

Every nerve seemed to be on fire, but for once, Calem didn’t feel burnt. She grinned wide, took a deep breath, and leaned forward to kiss Augustine. 

It was so strange, feeling the fuzz on Augustine’s chin as she kissed him. 

The first time Calem kissed anyone was her best friend Christine in sixth grade; they never did, Chris discovered that she was definitely straight from that kiss. Aisling had been like kissing Christine, but version 2.0. Her face had been round and soft, chin and nose relatively small, especially since Aisling wasn’t the thinnest girl. 

Augustine, though, was-- the beginnings of a beard was the first thing she noticed, and of course men tended to look different than women, but to be wrapping her arm around his neck felt so much different. Out of unconscious habit, her hand went to cup a breast that wasn’t there, and ended up using it to brace herself like that was her intention to begin with. 

Honestly, the faux pas was… probably for the best anyway, Calem hadn’t meant to get so swept away in the kiss. She pulled back and opened her eyes, a little out of breath in a decidedly good way. 

And… realized that she’d leaned into her shepherd’s pie, squished it against her clothing, and knocked the plate on the floor. Wow, nerves and -- hormones? Romantic tension? -- were apparently very distracting. 

“Fuck, sorry.” 

“What f--” and then Augustine caught sight of the mess on Calem’s shirt, too, and followed the trail of gravy and vegetable bits and crust to where it had landed on the floor. There was a moment of silence, and the bad-nerves started to work their way through Calem again, until Sycamore laughed, loudly. “I guess we’re both too tired to be trying anything,” he said, and started picking up what he could of the mess on the floor with his hands. 

Calem blinked, felt frozen for a moment, then finally managed to push herself into action. “No, no that was my fault, sir, let me get it--” 

“Sir?” Sycamore asked, cocking an eyebrow as he looked at Calem, notably… still smiling. 

Not especially amused by the ribbing, but not sure how to explain why, Calem just ignored it. “Just let me get it, please,” she asked, getting a little desperate, “I didn’t mean-- didn’t mean to ruin your carpet, your couch, your food….” 

Augustine’s smile slowly fell, and he cautiously put his clean hand on Calem’s shoulder. “Ma cherie, it’s fine. You didn’t ruin anything. As a guest, I won’t ask you to do anything, but if you’d really like to help, then please get me a cup of warm, soapy water?” 

It took a moment for Calem to calm down, though the grounding pressure of Augustine’s hand was very welcome. A slow deep breath, then she said, “O-okay, thank you. Yeah, I’ll, uh, I’ll do that.” 

As Calem went and got the water as asked, she wished that there were those u-shaped neck pillows to protect from emotional whiplash like that. Arceus, she couldn’t believe she still… reacted like that. It had been  _ years _ . She’d literally just kissed Augustine, and yet. ‘Sir’. Just wow.

For several minutes, she and Augustine cleaned the floor and another on the couch-- very little had been there, thankfully. 

“We should get your shirt in the washing machine, too,” Augustine eventually said. “Do you have something else to change into?”

Calem gave Augustine an intentionally blank stare for a moment. “Did you miss how I didn’t make it into to the Pokémon center between the plane and here?” 

“Oh,” Augustine said. “I’m not sure. Noted, though. I’ll go and get the washer started while you change.” 

It didn’t take Calem very long at all to switch shirts, but when Augustine came back from the other room-- that was the bathroom, wasn’t it?-- he asked, “Are you decent?” which was nice. 

After all that, neither of them really had energy for energy for much. The TV had been left on through all that, and now its siren call to their tired brains left them both sitting on the loveseat, barely watching the program. Calem had started leaning on Augustine in a matter of minutes, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned into it, though Calem fell asleep not too long after that. 

Augustine kissed the top of Calem’s head, and just… sat there for a minute. Sina and Dexio were usually quite as busy with work as Sycamore was, and were dating each other as well as him besides, and Lysandre was… well, he was Lysandre, so Augustine didn’t have a whole lot of cuddling, and it was really nice. 

It was _so_ nice, in fact, that he ended up drifting off, too. 


	17. Curiosity and Cowardice

Hm, this was an interesting place to wake up. Probably not a Pokémon center, given it looked less like a motel and more like someone actually lived here… but who? And why had Calem fallen asleep on their tiny-ass couch?

Oh, wait, that was right. This was… Sycamore's apartment, above Sycamore Labs. And Calem had fallen asleep here, last night. Probably against the Professor himself, since she didn't remember him going off to bed  _before_  she fell asleep, nor the blanket she shrugged off being put over her, or the throw pillow under her head.

She was incredibly fucked, wasn't she?

There was probably a fire escape somewhere, but there wasn't any covert way of leaving his apartment, that she could tell. And, sure, he'd said last night that he was… what was the word? Poly...phillic? Well, apparently Sina and Dexio wouldn't be scandalized that she was coming out of his place, but… who knew about anyone else, and had he said they already knew or no, would she be screwing something up, and looking through the rooms, she couldn't find Augustine anywhere.

After a second look through of the rooms, then standing in front of the elevator, finger hovering over the button for severam minutes, she finally shrugged and moved to sit down on the couch with a  _humph._ Fine, she sighed to herself.

_\- Hey Prof I'm kind of stuck in your apartment,_ Calem texted to Sycamore.

_\- you do not need the key to operate the elevator while already there,_  was his response.

_But Prof you don't understand. I have The Anxiety TM. I know what you said last night about like. People you date knowing you date other people. But my garbage brain is telling me that I Can't Or I Will Literally Die and no matter how much I logic the shit out of this I'm still not able to press the button._

A moment, then she added,

_\- I don't know what the fuck you even see in me tbh I'm a mess and you've literally already got a better girlfriend._

...Just because Calem thought Sina was kind of a bitch didn't mean that she wasn't, like. Objectively a better person.

There wasn't an immediate response to Calem's text, which was… worrying. Not logically so, he was probably just busy. Or thinking what to say, but then that was probably  _worse_  than just outright ignoring her, wasn't it? Actually, ignoring was probably the best option right now.

_\- You know what nevermind. Sorry to bother_

So, time to find the fire escape, then.

A few minutes later, as Calem was inspecting the different windows, trying to figure out how to open their unfamiliar window locks, figure out which side of the building she was on, how visible she would be if she stuck her head out to look for the fire escape, etc, her holo buzzed with an incoming text message. Fuck, that had to be the Professor's response to whatever the fuck it was she was trying to say. And then it buzzed again,  _double fuck_.

Still, knowing where a fire escape was was good practice when in an unfamiliar setting. Calem reasoned that she should definitely find that right away, rather than get distracted with frivolous things like messages.

Avoidant? What in the world was  _that?_  Definitely not something Calem was being at the moment. Arceus strike her down if-

At which point Calem's balance slipped, her foot coming off the end table and hand off the windowsill. Unfortunately, these two points had been the focus of most of her weight, and she crumpled onto the ground.

...All right, so Calem mostly didn't believe in Arceus or the other legends, or superstition or any of that jokey bullshit, but she could still appreciate the irony. Somewhat. She would have appreciated it more if it weren't for the bruises that would almost certainly form on her knees.

Still, chagrined as she was, Calem finally took out her holo caster to look at the message.

_\- I understand, cherie. feel free to stay there as long as you need, until you feel comfortable to leave. help yourself to food, if you wish._

_\- please do not be so hard on yourself. admittedly, I do not know you as well as I do the others, but that does not mean I find you lacking. you are a bright young woman with a wonderfully wry sense of humor, with a wealth of experience and a unique outlook. 3_

...He had actually included the heart emoticon in his text. What an absolute dork. Still, Calem couldn't help smiling.

Okay, so, ah… running away via fire escape wasn't so necessary anymore. Was it still something Calem wanted to do? ...Nah, as much as her urge to get the fuck out of dodge was still wanting to move, the fear of feeling exposed in the open air like that was great enough to hold her back.

(And, of course, the anxiety about having to do a perceived Walk of Shame through the lab itself put that well out of bounds, too.)

So she could eat whatever she found here. ...Calem momentarily considered looking for Sycamore's liquor cabinet, but decided the fewer barriers between herself and temptation, the harder it would be to resist, and Sycamore didn't really need to be questioning whether he had reintroduced Calem to a habit she'd picked up way too young.

So… what else was there to do. Calem could play with her Pokémon in the virtual space of Pokémon Amie for a bit, or Super Train them, but neither would be  _useful_  at this point, just a diversion to pass time. Not that Calem was upset that she had fully EV trained not just one Pokémon, which was more than she'd ever done before this year, but her  _whole_  battling party. Still, given how it got old quickly, it seemed silly to burn herself out on it for a while without even managing to do anything useful. Same with Amie- a bit more fun, but tedious at times, and according to the app, all of her party were at the max Affection that they would have. She still went in and gave them all a good hug (except Ironbark- as a Chesnaught, he was… somewhat too pointy to hug well, so she mostly let him hug her).

...What  _else_ , though? Well… One way to get to know people was looking at their stuff, right? It was a character development exercise, right? Aisling had loved that creative writing thing, and asked Calem to help her with those sorts of things, and given the perfect picture Calem could draw up in her head of a place that didn't exist that belonged to a person who didn't exist, she was pretty sure that either Aisling was kinky and getting off of that whole description thing somehow, or that figuring out how someone lived was a Genuine Learning technique.

Which meant that looking through Sycamore's stuff wasn't creepy, right? He said himself that he'd wanted to get to know her better, and she should reciprocate. Not at  _all_ creepy, just getting to know him.

The kitchenette was a bit cramped, with a stove and an oven that were hardly derelict, but didn't look like they were used very often. ...Feeling intrusive just looking at these things even after the previous rationalization, Calem looked around and found some cleaning wipes, looking at the things on the counter as she picked them up and wiped under them. It was hardly a professional job, especially as she had no idea where to put away the spare food and drink containers left around the counter, but she didn't really want to do a huge cleaning job anyway, so it was whatever. It was nice to know that such an immaculate looking professional still left his empty coffee cups and creamer and sugar, and bread and condiments etc strewn about.

And some obvious trash, too, which was something Calem could take care of without worrying about peculiar order, which was nice. Unless Sycamore had some reason to save his paper coffee cups? She'd done that when she was living at home with her parents still, just to save a bit of effort and money, but… she'd always been seen as weird for doing that, so probably not. The point of disposable cups, for anyone else, was to be  _disposed_  of, after all. So in the bin they went.

In Sycamore's fridge, there was a half gallon of milk- wasn't that odd for Kalos? Or, maybe… maybe not, of course it wasn't, that was more of a thing further East. Kalos had so many cheese dishes, of  _course_  milk would be more of a Thing, even if it didn't have the weird…  _history_  that it did in Unova.

There were other foods in there too, eggs, bread- who puts their bread in the fridge, anyway?- and lunchmeat, still better quality than what Calem was used to seeing in Unova and its territories, but cold cuts nonetheless. A few fruits and vegetables, both of the regular kind and the Berry kind, but not much. There was a bag of carrots that was definitely moldy, so Calem took the liberty of throwing that out, too.

So… this was kind of boring, actually. Wow There Sure Is Food In There, or some shit? On the other hand, it was still nice to see that Augustine wasn't this paragon of a perfect human, a genius professor and gorgeous and kind and a wonderful chef and and and- Calem had a habit of putting people on pedestals, so it was kind of nice to be reminded that Augustine was an ordinary human being, too. Special to her and those who knew her, special in what he had done and continued to do with his life, but not a supernatural being of divine goodliness or… something.

Next up was the bathroom, at least partially because Calem realized she needed to use it. Or… washroom? Half (or more) of the non-Unovan words knew for things were much more Ingrandan than Kalosian, given the shared language of Ingrand and its former colony. Did Kalos share any of those terms when speaking Ingrish with foreigners, though, or was Unovan more standard? ...Did it even fucking matter?

At any rate, Calem went into the room in which she might rest, take a bath, or wash up, what _ever_  the word for it was. It was larger than she expected, though still cramped, due to the washing machine in here- no dryer, though there was a miniature clothes line strung above the bath, and Calem's shirt from last night were pinned to it.  _Well, that's one way to do it,_  she supposed. They'd been drying for hours, now, and were dry, so she went ahead and took and repacked it.

After using the toilet she washed her hands, and paid attention to the things on the counter- just as messy as the kitchen counter had been. The soap was a nice-smelling bar of something… Minty, and perhaps rosemary? Calem snickered when she realized there was also a bottle of hair gel on the counter.  _Hah!_  So he  _does_  put effort into that. Calem had never been quite sure, Augustine seemed so nonchalant about his appearance, but no one could be that beautiful  _entirely_  without effort. Genetics sure helped, but… another chip at that pedestal, gone.

Something told Calem that smelling Augustine's bath products would be going Too Far, so she just left the bathroom after that.

On that same note, checking out his bedroom would probably be crossing the line into Legit Stalking, wouldn't it? But… there were hardly any pictures on the end table out here, and like. A single plant and two lamps. It was  _boring_  and she wouldn't go looking through his drawers,  _that_  would Definitely be Too Far. But going in his bedroom- probably fine, right?

...Probably not, but Calem was doing this anyway because she was terrible at fighting temptation and she'd already decided not to look for Sycamore's liquor cabinet though snooping around in general gave her an excuse to find it without "looking" for it, specifically. So she opened the door and peeked inside, to see a… okay, Calem honestly had no idea what bed sizes were aside from "this thin one meant for one person is probably a twin" or, as the one she saw, "this wider one is probably meant for two people or something." It had a dark blue duvet, lighter blue pillows, and… there wasn't much else to say about it.

Calem kept her hand on the doorknob as she leaned in to have a better look, trying to remind herself to not be… " _too"_  invasive, whatever that was. On the headboard, there were a few picture frames, too small for Calem to make out from the other side of the room where she stood in the doorway… probably cute, but okay, really, even this was "too much". It looked cozy, but… Calem really needed to back off.

All right, so… that was pretty much it. Well, no need for much extra space, since his entire laboratory was downstairs. It was still kind of… interesting, Calem supposed, that his living space was so small? And while it was messy, with things on the counters, it didn't look as if he used the couch or the TV etc here much. There wasn't even a case of DVDs or something, though perhaps he'd gone fully digital? Calem got the feeling that Augustine just didn't have a whole lot of spare time to waste on things like games and television, though.

Which was… a little sad, though Calem had fallen far behind on most of her favorite series, too, so she couldn't even maintain a conversation about most of that with her old friends, anymore. And, anyhow, that ability to focus on his work was probably why he was Professor Sycamore at thirty-whatever rather than just Grad Student or Masters' Thesis-Worker.

Arceus, there was barely any sign that he  _was_  a Professor, here. Granted, it was the middle of the day by this point, so Augustine likely had his research materials with him, but it was still a little startling to realize that he probably spent more time downstairs than he did here. Eating and sleeping seemed to be the main point of the space here, with a superficial attempt at accommodations for guests, though Calem wondered how many of those slept on the small couch, or rather- how many preferred to just share his bed.

Oh, wow, somehow Calem hadn't really thought about that. If they were officially Dating now - which Calem was only even half-sure was true, she clearly hadn't dreamed  _everything_  about last night, but could she say with certainty that it had all happened? Probably not- but even if they  _were_  Officially Dating, would she be expected to… ah, sleep with him? Holy shit, Calem wasn't sure she was ready for that, wasn't totally sure she'd  _ever_  be ready for that with, ah. Him. As much as she definitely had been nursing a crush on him- or, given reciprocation, would it be called romantic love at this point? Or is this Too Soon? But at the same time, while she really wanted to touch his face and kiss him, and maybe cuddle and Arceus Almighty it was super cute that she'd apparently fallen asleep on him, but she couldn't imagine herself wanting to have any kind of…

Calem didn't even want to think of it directly. Certain Bodily Organs just put her off entirely, but not reciprocating was Rude, Calem didn't want to be some sort of strange straight version of a Pillow Princess, and wasn't even sure if she'd want Augustine to… do those things in the first place.

What a hot mess Calem was. But… at least she wasn't straight! Not… completely. That was a bit of consolation.

Okay, this was fun for… like, an hour, Calem estimated, but she was getting very antsy being cooped up for this long. She walked over to the elevator and… found she still couldn't manage to press the button.

"Fucking  _damn it!_ " she shouted to no one in particular, and kicked the loveseat in frustration, stubbing her toe for the trouble.

Calem took out her VR set again and played with her Pokémon in both Amie and Super Training again, tried to help Ironbark get better times at the Extra Super Training or whatever the fuck it was called, but that only helped for another twenty minutes or so.

_\- Okay Prof so like I'm practically dying up here but I still can't get myself to leave. Is there anyone around at the moment? Is there likely to be a time when they're all out doing something or whatever? Ive got cabin fever I s w e a r_

_\- there are several people around at the moment. normal lunch schedules keep someone here at all times, in case a trainer comes in needing assistance regardless, but I doubt anyone will want to leave for a while today, haha._

Of course.

_\- would you like me to come up? I feel responsible for this, I should have been more thoughtful about how you'd feel waking up in an unfamiliar place._

Oh geez, that wasn't what Calem had wanted, either.

_\- No, no, Prof, it's cool. Im just super good at complaining, I dont wanna drag you away from work even *more* than usual. I'm totally fine, dude, just do your thing or whatever_

It took Calem all of ten minutes to decide that she was  _not_  cool, fine (whether totally or partially) or any of that. She still couldn't manage the elevator, though. 

...Now that she was more awake, it was pretty clear that the north-facing side of the building, the one towards the street, was the one with the decorative round window, and the side with the elevator was towards the edge of the city, which ought to be nearly abutting the wall around Lumiose, if Calem recalled correctly. There obviously wasn't a fire escape on the front, that would ruin the whole look, and she hadn't noticed one on either side. ...Oh, Arceus, Kalos  _did_ have regulations about needing fire escapes, right?

Calem went to the small window she could see on the elevator/south side of the wall- the one she'd slipped from earlier, actually. Now that she knew roughly where the lock was, she didn't need to  _see_  it, so she just reached up and dealt with that by fumbling, then, eventually… great! Calem stuck her head outside and… Good, it seemed Kalos wasn't  _entirely_  aesthetics-focused. The window was probably smaller than would have been legal as a fire escape in Unova, but whatever, Calem managed to fit through it fine, and even close it once she was standing on the metal platform outside. She couldn't lock it from outside, given that would absolutely defeat the purpose, but it wouldn't let weather in, at least.

About that time, there was another buzz from her Holo. She'd check whatever he said later-- right now, her main focus was getting past the windows on the back of the labs without being seen, and being quiet enough to not be heard, which could be an issue on this creaky metal structure.

Still, the windows here weren't for light so much as just access  _to_  this fire escape, so hopefully they were pretty high up too… maybe she could just kind of scoot along on her ass, be lower than the windows and avoid shifting her weight too much or too quickly with the lower center of gravity, thus not causing it to creak?

...Why was she going to all this trouble.

And yet, she still found herself doing exactly that.

It took. Entirely. Too. Long.

But it worked. Calem was out of there, without confrontation, without bothering anyone or taking them out of work they clearly cared about so much. And all right, so it was chilly as heck, being… who the fuck knew what the date was, but late December. Some… some amount of days after her birthday, on the solstice, so… Calem shook her head. There wasn't snow or anything to leave tracks, at least, but her ass was cold as ice from being on the cold metal for so long, and Calem just… wanted to move. Go, somewhere. The faster she went, the faster her muscles would warm her up, so with that, Calem readjusted her bag on her shoulder, and took off from behind the Sycamore Pokémon Lab at a run.


	18. Curiouser and Curiouser

Augustine wasn’t particularly surprised that Calem never seemed to come down from his apartment to the office party downstairs. He really ought to have thought more about her social issues, which he admittedly didn’t know a whole  _ lot _ about, but had known  _ existed, _ at least. As much as he liked to see the initial getting-to-know-an-intern/employee day out as a date, it had been obvious enough by Calem’s behavior (not to mention ethics given she really was so young, and he’d have workplace power over her) to not make that day seem like A Date. Difficult with Lysandre there to spoil his feelings, but… he’d known enough to try to cater to Calem then. 

And still, he let her sleep on his loveseat, not finding that dreamland until the little hours of the morning, and knowing that the Christmas party would be held that afternoon through evening. Not  _ everyone _ was here, of course, there were definitely lab workers who actually had families to spend Christmas Eve with, but… well, Sycamore and Sina and Dexio and several of the overseas interns, obviously including Cosette whose mother was likely as busy as ever with gym challenges in Sinnoh… 

  * _are you sure there’s nothing you’d like?_ Augustine texted, hoping for a reply, but… again, not especially surprised when he didn’t receive one.



It was a shame that Calem didn’t seem to like these kinds of social gatherings, especially in the wake of their newly established relationship. Of course, that wasn’t her fault, but his-- he should have just let her go, but… Augustine had been so eager to confirm that he hadn’t just daydreamed her holo calls (even if she’d been drunk for the first one). He leaned against the desk that hosted the refreshments-- wine and some kind of Berry Juice blend, though Augustine couldn’t place it. Tasty, though, as were the various snacks. 

...In fact, while the atmosphere couldn’t very well be transported, the food and drink could be, at least. Augustine gathered up some of the finger sandwiches and the other snacks-- leaving the escargot alone, given what Calemine had said last night-- and a cup each of wine and juice, then made his way to the elevator. It was a bit of a feat to manage the buttons and especially the key while holding all that, but that was hardly any price to pay for giving Calem a present surprise. 

In a moment, though, Augustine closed his eyes as the elevator opened onto his apartment, and as he stepped in, said, “I hope you’re decent, Calem! I’ve brought you some some things from the party.” 

When only silence greeted Augustine, he slowly opened an eye, bracing himself to… he wasn’t sure, perhaps expecting that Calem was playing a practical joke on him. He didn’t see her, which seemed to corroborate that guess for a moment, but then another moment passed, and another… and she didn’t jump from behind a cabinet, or the couch, or give away any evidence of her presence in the least. 

Of course, Augustine had no idea if she was even prone to that kind of behavior-- that was mostly Dexio’s forte, but she seemed the type. But… this seemed a bit longer than was amusing. 

“Calem?” Augustine asked to the empty air, a bit louder than before. “There’s food, if that makes any difference.” 

Nothing. 

Perhaps she’d fallen asleep again, and decided his bed would be more comfortable than the small loveseat-- which would be a fair assessment. But no, she was not in his bed (even if the thought of that gave him a surge of-- of something, somewhere between affection and, yes, lust, if he was being honest with himself.) She hadn’t  _ been _ there, either, it was just as neatly made as it had been when he’d left it this morning. 

He didn’t  _ hear _ the shower going, but perhaps she was just-- no, no the door to the water closet was wide open, and clearly unoccupied, though he knocked and asked on the off chance he was wrong. 

So… Calem was somehow gone. Augustine was quite sure she hadn’t passed through the lobby, though-- that’s where the Christmas party was being held, and there definitely hadn’t been any elevator traffic. 

_ What in Yveltal’s name did this mean?  _ Once it really sunk through to Augustine that Something had happened, he hurriedly dug out his Holo Caster and scrolled through his contacts until he came upon her name. 

It rang once, tw--and abruptly was disconnected. 

So calling was bad, for…  _ whatever _ her situation was. Hopefully texting wouldn’t endanger her, but Augustine couldn’t just leave her to whatever the issue was without at least trying to get enough information to help. 

  * _are you oka_



No, that sounded too… suspicious, perhaps,  delete-delete-delete . If something had...  happened,  though Augustine couldn’t imagine what, he didn’t want to potentially compromise her… Okay, honestly, Augusitne could understand he was probably overreacting, but even if it was years--  decades ago now, the time that Lys had been kidnapped due to his family’s standing couldn’t very well leave Augustine in peace… 

  * _how are you doing?_



Okay, so… that sounded more casual, less like he was winding up to a panic attack. Which, whether or not Calem was all right, was probably better to be covert about, anyhow. 

He was staring intently at the device for the minute or few (or several?) that it took to get a response, but he still jumped when the caster buzzed. 

  * _Prof seriously I’m fine up here just do your research or whatever it’s cool_



All right, so lying about being in his apartment still was… a bad sign. Maybe?  Merde . How could something like this  happen ? 

  * _good to hear, mon cher. it’s just a party, though, not research, given the date._



So, generic response. But now, how in the world to get through to her while flying under the radar of potential captors? Augustine typed and re-typed and re-worded his next text several times over as many minutes, trying to make sure it was just right. 

  * _say, cherie, is there anything in particular you do for the holiday? any place you’d like to see? of course, if you’re busy with friends, do not waste time on responding to me_



Would that be enough? Augustine could only hope. 

  * _Definitely have loads of friends in your apt dude. The forks aren’t talking to me yet so that’s probably a good sign._



Okay, so… Calem didn’t seem particularly worried, but text was easy to fake. 

  * _Calem, ma cherie. do you recall what we discussed prior to going to Café Lysandre, before you went on your trip? are you having any kind of trouble that may be related to that?_



Any potential antagonises shouldn’t know what that was about-- unless, by some coincidence, they were in fact Team Flare, and Lysandre was somehow involved in the team and notable enough to be known to random members, but that was  _ highly _ improbable. 

  * _What??? No prof seriously_


  * _Is something up or w/e?_



Okay, so… either the incredibly unlikely accusation of Lysandre being connected to Flare was accurate, or Augustine was overreacting again. Of the two, it was easy to assume which was false. 

  * _I am currently sitting on my loveseat, and you’re not here._



Perhaps admitting the extremes his mind had gone to would not be particularly wise, so Augustine left it at that. 

  * _Sorry lol kinda assumed you were still doing your science thing. Or… party thing I guess? Yeah so kinda left. You might want to re-lock your south window, couldn’t really do so from the fire escape_



Ah. 

...When did Calem even leave? It was well within the single celsius digits as far as outside temperature went, this late in December, let alone by the time the sun was this low in the sky. 

  * _you’re certain you are all right?_



For a tense minute, Sycamore sat on his couch-- but then, a buzz heralded the arrival of Calem’s answer, then another and, as he was reading, another and another. 

  * _Yeah I’m sure. Just got antsy, and I needed to get back on my league challenge anyway, what with taking a sudden vacation in the middle for no damned reason haha_


  * _Nearly to dendemille already anyhow like_


  * _I just like being on the move I guess_


  * _So anyway why were yall having a party anyway is it someones birthday did i insult someone by not being there_



Augustine chuckled to himself, if a bit ruefully. 

  * _non, ma cher, no birthday. just Christmas. I had picked out a small gift for you, though it’s admittedly not very much._



 

  * _Aw fuck. Shit. Is today christmas then??? Arceus damn it all :/ I dont have anything for you bc like malasada wouldn’t travel well and I didnt really do any shopping when in alola or anything........ Sorry guess ill get to that when I see you next?_



 

  * _christmas eve, and no worries. you’re a traveling trainer, and a student besides. I prefer you don’t spend money on me, truth be told. just stay safe, keep warm, etcetera._



Augustine didn’t get any more texts after that. Perhaps she was busy battling-- likely a wild Pokémon, given the date, but still distracting. Nonetheless, he worried for her. 

 

* * *

 

Well, the holiday explained why the route was so clear of trainers, anyway. Calem pedaled hard and fast, like she could escape her problems via speed. 

Or, well, she did for a while. BIking was… really tiring, though, especially up (and down!) inclines, to the point where it was easier to just get off the damn thing and walk it up the slope (and faster when down, in that she didn’t have to get up from a minor spill). 

Still, she managed to keep going, and going, despite aching muscles. A trip that had taken Calem a day and a half weeks before, from Dendemille to Lumiose, took her a matter of hours on the way back. 

Painful hours, admittedly, both physically and emotionally, once Calem had noticed and responded to Augustine’s texts. Or-- hm, the name debate again. ...Yes, even having Managed To Flee, and making the situation awkward again, having  _ kissed _ him probably landed her solidly in calling him by his first name category. 

But,  _ finally, _ Calem returned to the gatehouse to Dendemille, she could stop going so fast. Before entering, Calem stepped off her bike and started breaking it down into its more storable state. 

Distracted as she was with the bike and trying not to think about Augustine, Calem visibly jumped when someone who’d been leaning on the walls leading into the door suddenly moved. It was dark by now, though this shortly after the solstice that didn’t tell Calem much about how late it was or wasn’t; but in the gloom of the late evening, Calem hadn’t even noticed she wasn’t alone in the first place. 

“Calem,” said the stranger, sending a shiver down her back.  _ Who in the actual fuck?  _ They stepped forward into the light spilling out from the gatehouse, and… while Calem felt like she’d seen this person somewhere before, she couldn’t place where. She slowly started moving her hand towards her Pokéballs on her belt, and backing towards the well-lit building --  _ slowly _ , not wanting to surprise this stranger who seemed to know her. 

They stepped forward again, but just enough to be on this side of the exterior walls leading to the gatehouse, to be better lit. “Easy,” they said, raising their hands non-threateningly. “I was just-- ah, in the neighborhood I guess? No, that sounds too cliché…” 

This person had messy, dark brown hair, hard to tell how long it was, given the messy low ponytail it was pulled into. Probably a woman, on a second look in the light, or perhaps only because their voice was softer than most men’s. Their clothes were utilitarian, comfortable looking, but very dirty and worn through in some places. If they hadn’t just called Calem out by name, she would have assumed they were homeless, and spared some Pen if she could manage; and while that may still be the case, Calem was substantially more wary. 

“Arceus, okay, look,” the person said, putting a hand to their forehead. “Why I’m here doesn’t really matter. Just-- please, turn around and go back to your Christmas party, or whatever, okay? Or, ah-- that  _ was _ today, ri--”

“Who the  _ fuck _ are you,” Calem interrupted, panic rising.

The stranger looked away. “You wouldn’t believe me if--oh, fuck. Arceus I  _ remember  _ this. I-- no, you literally didn’t believe--” They stopped themself mid-sentence, sniffled, and looked up at Calem, their grey eyes shining. “Is there  _ anything _ I could do to convince you to just drop the League Challenge here and now?” 

They took another step towards Calem, and she could feel the dread grow deep in her stomach. She couldn’t say  _ what _ , but it was becoming clear that there was something very  _ wrong _ with this person in front of her. She took a step back, turning a bit mid-step, trying to ease herself into the building without letting this person out of her sight. “The fuck do you care about what I do for? ...Are you part of Team Flare, or something? I--” 

“No, no,” the stranger said, blinking away what Calem supposed were probably tears, and waving her hands in what Calem interpreted as defeat. “Nothing like that, but I-- I can see you’re… I’ll leave you be, sorry to bother.” They were the one retreating now, and with every step Calem felt her breath coming a little easier-- but she still didn’t want to take any chances. “One last thing,” they added, seemingly as an afterthought, though Calem tensed up again. “Sorry, sorry!” They smiled, but given their droopy eyes and the ‘laugh’ that sounded more like a sob, probably wasn’t very genuine. “Just-- try to enjoy your time here while you can, okay?” 

Calem blinked. “Is that a threat?” 

“Fuck me in the heart,” they said, actually laughing this time. “I can’t do any Arceus-damned thing right, can I. Fine, go fuck yourself, see what good that does you. No wonder it all went to shit.” They spun around on their heel and walked into the dark, only the telltale swishing letting Calem know they’d gone into the Tall Grass. The further they got, the less worried Calem became, but she still only very hesitantly turned to let herself into the gatehouse. 

That was, until she heard-- something, presumably that same person, say something. It was hard to discern from a distance, but Calem thought she caught the words “Libby” and “home.” There was a bright flash of light from the direction the stranger went, then complete darkness-- though to be fair, Calem’s eyes might have just not readjusted after the bright light. 

Logic said that something bad might have happened, that perhaps this homeless crazy person had been attacked by a Pokémon-- but Calem felt so much better after the light. Whether they were in danger or maybe used a weird form of Teleport or whatever, Calem didn’t care much. “Good riddance,” she said, and stepped into the gatehouse. 


	19. Christmas

Calem tumbled out of the Pokémon Center cot, not feeling like moving but knowing she really ought to. Marius blinked awake at the movement and sound, sitting up from his position curled up at the foot of the bed. In a moment, he was up and helping Calem gather her things to get ready for the day. 

The Lucario handed Calem a hairbrush that had gotten kicked under the cot. She accepted, then ruffled the fur on the top of his head and said, “How did I ever survive without you, Mar? Thanks, hon.” Marius smiled and turned away. 

In a few more minutes, Calem stepped outside the PokéCenter-- only to promptly turn around and head back inside, once she saw the snow. “Looks like I need to borrow one of the Center’s spare coats…” In the middle of rifling through the random assortment of clothes that had been surrendered from the local lost-and-founds after not being claimed for too long, Calem paused. “Oh shit. It’s Christmas, isn’t it.” She looked around at the center, which had indeed been decorated to fit the season-- well, it had been last night too, probably, and truth be told decorations were common throughout most of December (though much less overwhelming than in Unova), but the LCD above the nurse’s counter occasionally flashed various festive images, icons of decorated christmas trees, scenes of general festivity that she didn’t remember seeing before today. 

Calem turned to Marius, who had deemed to stay out of his ball, and said, “It chrimmus. Mer chrimmus.” 

Marius chuckled, and softly  _ barked _ in a way that sounded more like “merry christmas” than Calem’s statement had, and then it was Calem’s turn to laugh. 

In a few minutes, the two left the Center again, both bundled up-- the Lucario wore a coat clearly intended for a child, given his stature, though it wasn’t zipped up, and a pair of frankly adorable socks-- mismatched, but effective at keeping his paws free from ice. 

“At least it’s a white Christmas,” Calem said, then shrugged when she didn’t get a response from Marius. “I guess that’s not really a problem for you guys here. I think I saw snow  _ once _ in the three years I lived in Orre, and even then was only in the mountains… Weird shit, that.” 

A while later, while Calem was exploring to the north of town and thankfully between trainer battles, Calem’s Holo rang. She looked at the nameplate and was prepared to hang up-- but then saw it wasn’t actually Augustine, it was Shauna. 

“Hey, Calem,” Shauna said, then continued without waiting for Calem to greet her, “have you-- oh, cool, I’m glad you’re back from Alola, I was  _ hoping _ so. Any chance you’re near Dendemille, or at least have you heard anything from Serena?” 

It took a moment of blinking and silence for Calem to straighten her thoughts enough to respond, but she managed, “Yeah, I’m north of town, but haven’t heard from her, why?” 

“I was training in this abandoned basement place, so I didn’t have reception for a while, but I just got the message that I guess Serena left a while ago-- something about thinking Team Flare had something to do with things seeming fishy in the cave north of Dendemille.” 

“Oh  _ shit _ .” 

“Oh shit is right,” Shauna said, then scoffed at Calem’s shocked expression. “Look, I’m not a  _ baby _ , and if anything calls for cussing, this seems like it, right?” 

Calem nodded. “Yeah, true. Damn. I-- I don’t know what I can do, though?” Calem didn’t want to say that Serena was probably least likely to get hurt if she was being as brazen as it sounded like she was-- with the girl’s battle skill, not to mention her Talonflame, little in the icy climate here should be much trouble. “Maybe you should call Aug--Professor Sycamore?”

“He’s next, for sure. And, well, I’m trying to get there as soon as I can, but I’m still--” Shauna looked down from her holo caster’s camera for a few moments, then resumed, “I’m still kind of a ways out. I think I found some shortcuts a while back, but there’s-- she can’t be in there  _ alone _ , Calem! She’s never thought much of Team Flare, and I’m afraid it’s going to bite her in the butt, one of these days. I just hope it’s not today.” 

Calem gulped, then nodded. “Okay, yeah. Arceus-speed.” 

Shauna said, “You too, and thanks,” then promptly hung up. 

Welp. “Guess training is over for today, Marius,” Calem said, as she tried to square up her shoulders and convince herself she was not scared witless and shitless. 

There were barely any trainers to contend with, and Calem thanked whatever gods of luck and fortune chose Kalos as their home that Serena had chosen such a date to go off on a fool’s errand like this. The few she did see, she just rudely ignored, or to one she said, “ _ Really  _ not in the fucking mood.” She slipped and slid across the slick icy floors, hardly able to keep her balance-- which was much better than the first icy cave she’d run through, years ago, without the aid of skates, but still made for frustratingly slow progress. 

Eventually, though, Calem entered a chamber, and she could hear voices ahead, and what sounded like a heated battle. 

“Serena!” Calem called out as she was navigating the last icy patch. 

“I-- Calem?” came what was definitely Serena’s voice. “What are you-- I’m fine, I’m handling this--” As she said that, two Pokémon attacked her Furfrou at once, a Houndoom and a Golbat, and the dog went down. 

“Oh, wow, Calem! Than Xerneas you’re here,” said Trevor, who Calem only just realized was to her right. “I’m-- I’m not really a battler, so I’m nearly spent,” he said. At that, the Flare Grunt whose Mightyena was battling his Florges attacked with Bite, and the fey gave a sighing kind of wail as she fell down. 

Trevor withdrew the Pokémon and stepped back. The Grunt grinned at him, scowled at Calem, then said, “Attack the girl’s Talonflame!” When had Serena even had time to switch out? 

At any rate, Calem threw her Lucario’s ball into the air, and called out, “Extreme speed!” 

Marius materialized-- still wearing the winter gear he’d had on earlier when she recalled him, amusingly-- and the turned into a blur as he sprang forward with unnatural speed, intercepting the other dog’s attack. 

“Hey! That’s not fair, getting more people to come in!” the Flare Grunt yelled. Calem didn’t even have the words to respond, so just asked Marius to use Aura Sphere. 

Several minutes later, all three Flare members had been defeated-- the Pyroar’s share of Pokémon having been defeated by Serena’s Pokémon, admittedly. Which… made Calem feel a lot more at ease. Serena was The One Kid That Did The Fucking Thing, the Hero Of The Region. She was safe. She’d need support, but if push came to shove, she probably would have been fine here without either herself or Trevor’s pathetic attempt at help. 

Serena would be okay. 

_ Calem _ would be okay. 

Team Flare… looked like it was really starting to ramp up its activity, and even seemed to be sending scientist-admins out into the field for things like the old Abomasnow here. Unsurprisingly, the creature gave Serena, and  _ only _ Serena, a stone. “I can’t--” Serena stopped herself as the living snowman curled her fingers around the object. “I mean,  _ thank _ you. Whatever is necessary to protect people and Pokémon, I’ll be there, you can trust that.” 

She was  _ such _ a Prototypical Hero. Thank Arceus it wasn’t Calem, was all the latter could think. 

 

* * *

 

An hour later, Serena, Calem, Trevor, Shauna, Dexio, and Sycamore were crowded around a table only meant to seat four, drinking reheated stale coffee (but at least it was free), with hot chocolate packets added for the girls. Or, well, the  _ other _ girls-- Calem just added her typical milk and sugar. 

“Serena, what you did was very gallant, but  _ reckless _ ,” the Professor said, finally. “Please, for me and the rest of your friends here-- consider carefully what you’re going against.” 

The girl nodded, trying her best to look somber, but between the mug of warm sweetness in her hands and the blush of triumph still on her cheeks, it was easy to see that her grin was just dying to break across her face again. 

Trevor cleared his throat, then spoke up, “To be fair, Serena wasn’t  _ alone _ . I’m not much of a trainer, but I was there. Through, truthfully? I wasn’t super necessary… I understand what you’re saying, Professor, but I think-- all’s well that ends well, you know?” 

Aaand there was Serena’s smile, just like Calem thought it would be, beaming at Trevor. “No, buddy, you helped a lot! Flare doesn’t fight fair, so I don’t know if I could have taken on all three of those guys at once. But thank you for the confidence.” She put down her mug and looked at Calem, and added, “You too, Calem. Good timing.” 

“Please don’t scare me like that again, though!” Shauna said, voice a little squeaky with worry, and she reached across the table to grab one of Serena’s hands. “Don’t just rush into things-- I know that’s one of the things I lo--like most about you, you’re so brave and smart and good at battling and all, but like? I just--” Shauna seemed to realize what she was doing, and withdrew her hands back to her own lap, blushing. “I don’t want you to get hurt, is all.” 

“I  _ did _ call you, Shauna-- but okay, I’ll be more careful, I promise.” Serena smiled, and Shauna was clearly trying not to blush harder. 

Calem, who had ended up sitting beside Shauna, lightly nudged the younger girl with her elbow, then glanced meaningfully towards Serena, raising her eyebrows in what Calem hoped was subtle but understandable questioning. 

Shauna just barely wobbled her head side-to-side, indicating no. 

Dexio was asking Serena what she thought Team Flare was doing there, and it seemed like attention had turned towards this new string of conversation, so Calem leaned-- subtly, she hoped!-- and whispered to Shauna,  _ “I kissed him, so ya know.” _

With a slight gasp, Shauna leaned back. Calem just barely nodded, and had to fight to hold in a chuckle as Shauna glanced between Sycamore and Calem herself, also trying hard to not draw attention to herself. Calem looked meaningfully at Serena again, and whispered,  _ “Do it tonight, trust me.”  _

Shauna bit her lip to hide a smile and nodded, and Calem felt proud. What an adorable tiny baby gay. Calem wished she could feel like Gay Aunt Mentor, but that was kind of dampened by currently crushing on very-definitely-a-guy. Or maybe-dating. Sure, being bi was... a thing, but Calem had thought she was, well-- “Actually” gay, though now she could feel exactly how excluding that could feel, being on the other side of the divide.

Eventually, though, everyone was satisfied that everyone else was safe and sound and comfortable and happy, and not likely to go off and do anything dangerous, in Serena’s case. 

Shauna took the chance to hang out with Serena more, promising to keep an eye on her. Trevor offered to help, but thankfully, Dexio stepped in-- “Trevor, I actually think I could use you back at the lab. You’re better at details than Serena is, and I’d love to pick your brain about what you think Flare might be up to…” 

Which left Sycamore and Calem watching the pairs head in opposite directions. “So,” Calem said, “do you think Dexio could tell that Shauna’s trying to ask Serena out, or does he actually want to talk to Trevor so much?” 

Augustine hummed in mild surprise, then said, “I wasn’t aware myself that Shauna’s designs were anything less than straightforward, so… I couldn’t say. It’s a very good evening for it though, non? Most of the celebrations have ceased, for now, but it’s still Noel, and the snow is light enough not to bother too much, but present nonetheless, to gather and catch, accenting everything so well, enveloping it in ethereal beauty.” 

Calem hummed in response. She hadn’t realized Augustine could be so poetic. 

“Including you, ma cher,” he continued, eliciting a snort from Calem. 

After a moment, she said, “You’re serious,” and looked up at him incredulously. 

He put an arm around her shoulder and looked into her eyes as he said, “Of course, cherie. I wouldn’t joke like that, I never intend to harm, you know.” 

“I do know,” Calem answered, continuing with a lopsided smile, “but I  _ also  _ know that you literally did not realize I was a girl for… like, several months.” 

“Beauty isn’t necessarily feminine, traditionally or otherwise,” Augustine countered. “The contrast of the flakes on your dark hair is especially striking, ma petit choufleur. Your soft grey eyes, like clouds heavy with snow above us tonight, shine in the lamplight, reflecting the falling crystals. You are a vision.” 

Calem looked down at herself, took note of the hand-me-down castoff coat she was wearing, and the boots so large she could actually fit another pair of shoes inside while wearing them. Not… anything bulky, just canvas flats, but anything at all was amusing. 

“Augustine,” Calem said after a moment, “the prognosis isn’t good. I think you’re either blind, or you’ve confused a homeless shelter with a fashion show.” 

At that, Augustine laughed. “Regardless,” he said, “if we’re going to stand in the cold talking, we should at least get something hot to drink, something better than the coffee they offer in the Center-- though calling it ‘coffee’ is a bit generous, I think.” 

Dendemille wasn’t a huge town by any means, and didn’t have any specialty coffee houses-- but it did have its share of places to eat, which sold drinks to the two happily. 

When back outside, Calem said, “Serena and Shauna went south from the Center, right? Like they’d be going on to route 17, right?” 

“Truthfully, cherie, I did not notice,” Augustine said, “why do you ask? Is there something to be aware of on Mamoswine Way?” 

Calem blew a short raspberry and waved dismissively at that. “Nah, after Serena took care of the Abomasnow thing in the cave, the Mamoswine stopped worrying or whatever and the Ranger around here said that she should return to giving rides by--” Calem took a moment to check her watch, then finished, “several hours ago, by his estimate. So yeah, nah. I just didn’t want to accidentally wander into their date while-- ah--” Her breath caught as she came to the word and, of course, Arceus damn it  _ now _ she decided to get self conscious. 

Augustine had put his arm around Calem’s shoulders again, holding his drink with his other hand, and she hadn’t exactly been trying to keep her distance from him either, given the chill in the air. In fact, she was definitely leaning into him, not obnoxiously, but not exactly subtly either. Literally anyone who saw the two of them would probably assume that they were on a date. 

With this newfound perspective, Calem tried not to let her skin crawl where Augustine’s arm lay across the top of her back, but she did angle her head a bit away. “Are you all right?” Augustine asked at this. Damn. Subtlety never really had been Calem’s strong suit, she supposed. 

“Yeah, I’m--” Calem started, then stopped just as abruptly, and thought for a moment. On one hand, no, she suddenly  _ wasn’t _ fine; but on the other hand, if she brought that up, then they’d have to Deal with that, with-- several issues, really, and Calem really didn’t feel like doing that right now. She settled on, “You’re not going to get into trouble over this,” Calem gestured to the pair of them with her free hand, “are you?” 

“Non, ma cher,” Augustine replied. “I doubt much of anyone is out and about today, and if they are, so be it. ...Anything more affectionate than this might want of a more secluded locale, but no worries for now.” 

That answered at least half of Calem’s worries, and she was willing to ignore the rest. “Great! So, then, I was thinking we should check out the big windmill, eh?” 

Augustine cocked an eyebrow and looked a bit sideways at Calem, but smiled and said, “Lead the way.” 

Calem did slip out from under Augustine’s arm at this, instead taking his hand as she led him around the different levels of the town, up steps, causing them both to spill their hot cocoas multiple times for going too fast or tripping on steps. 

When they stood at the base of the structure, Augustine looked up and chuckled. “So, what was the rush, then?” 

Calem shrugged, finally letting go of his hand. “No rush, really, just excited.” She looked up, too, then started walking around the base away from Augustine. 

“It’s a fine sight, I’ll agree,” Augustine said, still watching the large blades swing up and down and round and down, “but I admit I’m not sure why you brought me here-- this close, it’s a bit difficult to discern much about the structure.” 

A moment passed, and there was no response. Augustine looked back down to his own level and-- Calem wasn’t there. 

Augustine took a sharp breath, but tried not to overreact. It had been literally a matter of moments; more likely than not, she was on the other side of the only large object around here. He took a few steps, and sure enough, she was there-- leaning over the railing, staring very intently at a shuttered window on the backside of the windmill. 

“So I guess I wasn’t paying attention earlier,” Calem said, “coulda sworn this windmill’s base was on this platform, but I guess…” Calem gestured at the gap between the cement she stood on and the building-- a good twenty feet or so deep. “There’s clearly a door down there, but I have no idea how workers or whatever are supposed to  _ get _ there, it doesn’t look like there’s an arch through the cement or anything at ground level…” 

A beat, then Augustine said, “I see…?” 

Calem looked up at Augustine then, and said, “Welp, guess it’s time to improvise.” She stood up and retrieved a Pokéball from her belt, and a moment later her Chesnaught appeared. “Ironbark, buddy!” Calem said to the Pokémon, and he smiled and made a noise at her-- not altogether happy sounding, but not aggressive. “I know it’s cold,” she continued, “just want your help for a moment, then back in the snuggly ball you go, kay?” 

Ironbark nodded and made an affirmative noise. “Good to hear. So, you’ve still got the vines you’d use for Vine Whip, right? I know you can’t use the actual move, but the things are still  _ there _ , yeah?” 

Ironbark nodded again. 

“Sweet!” Calem said. “Can you get this shutter open for me, bud?” 

Augustine watched as the Chesnaught looked at the distance between the ledge and the shutter, considered, then opted to just lean over the ledge and stretch his long arm out, just managing to reach. One claw hooked under a slat, and the shutter swung outward, leaving half of the window exposed. “Calem,” Augustine said at length, “what exactly are you doing?” 

It took only one more moment for Ironbark to get the other shutters open, and Calem laughed at-- well, it was hard to say which companion, truth be told. “Guess that works, Iron!” Calem said, and returned her Pokémon as promised. Then she turned to Augustine and asked, “Well, what’s it  _ look _ like I’m doing?” 

“Nothing wise,” Augustine answered as Calem set down her drink and got to work removing her puffy coat, outer pair of shoes, anything that seemed extraneous.

Calem stood up and shrugged, then, and said, “Yeah, nothing the past month has probably been ‘wise,’ if I’m being honest.” Then swung her legs over the metal railing that rounded the gap, standing up on the far side, both hands hanging on.

“ _ Calem, _ ” Augustine’s voice was more insistent this time, but too late-- at about the same time, Calemine made the jump. Admittedly, it was only three or four feet across, but with such a fall and no handholds available… Nothing ill came of it, but Augustine’s heart rate didn’t seem to care much about that. 

She slipped inside the window without issue, and Augustine could barely hear her rummaging around through the open window, with the occasional thud and following curse word, which at least made him chuckle. 

A minute later she reappeared, with a wooden plank, which she slid to meet the concrete on his side of the gap. “Look what I found!” she shout-whispered, though it wasn’t as if there were anyone around to hear-- or if there had been, like the rest of their activity wouldn’t have already gained their attention. Heedless of Augustine’s internal thoughts, Calem continued, “I kinda doubt you’re as into the whole… jumping headlong into anything as I am, so uh, if you sit on this and scoot across you should have a low enough center of gravity that you wouldn’t run much risk of falling off.” 

That… was pretty solid reasoning, honestly. And the board, if old, didn’t look rotten or too thin to support his weight. Not to mention, the ledge of the window was about level with the ground here, even if it was at a slight angle. 

Augustine put his hands on his hips and considered. He’d endorsed Sina and Dexio’s Rangers of Kalos endeavors, but had never participated himself. While they were very set on their adventures aiding Kalos as a whole, they still managed to find off-the-clock time to do something they loved, something thrilling. Lysandre… Augustine didn’t know what Lysandre did with his free time these days, though that was assuming he had any. He had always been so serious; when the two were teenagers and snuck away from their school’s Parfum Palace field trip route, it had been Augustine who’d had to convince Lysandre to go at all. 

And that had probably been the last time Augustine had gotten up to mischief like that. 

“I don’t need to crouch, I’m not  _ that _ old,” Augustine said as he swung his legs over the railing-- slowly, belying the previous statement. No, no-- just  _ carefully _ , no sense in being reckless about something he hadn’t done much for  about as long as Calem had been alive... No, he was not going to think about that. 

Pride carried him across the gap well enough, though, and in a minute he was sliding into the window next to Calemine. He grinned at her, then looked around the deeply shadowed room. “Did you have a plan beyond this?” he asked. 

Calem moved somehow, though Augustine was only mostly sure it was a shrug, since she stood not entirely in the light from the window. “Just explore, try not to wreck anything, then hang out in the highest place we can get to for a while, dri--” Calem stopped short as she had a realization. “I left my drink out there.” 

“And your coat,” Augustine added, though Calem dismissed that with a wave of her hand. He continued, “Well, it’s lucky I decided to walk across instead-- I didn’t need my hands until the end.” Augustine picked up his coffee cup from where he’d set it on the windowsill. 

“Oooh, good!” Calem said, “then I’ll just drink yours--assuming you have good taste in coffee.” 

Augustine drew his cup closer to himself and responded, “Now, that’s a bit hasty, thinking I’ll let you have any,” unable to hide a chuckle. 

“Maybe I’ll keep the light to myself, then!” Calem teased back, then released her Heliolisk, Panela. “Flash, please girl,” Calem said, “and let’s move quickly so Augustine can’t steal my light since he won’t let me have any of his cocoa.” The Flash did indeed light up the room-- not much to it, honestly, and nothing interesting but the stairs up and down on either side. 

“Mine is coffee, cherie,” Augustine said, following the pair ahead of him, not bothering to make any particular haste. “If you’re not used to caffeine at odd hours, it might be a legitimately bad idea to drink mine.” 

Calem stopped at the stairs leading up, and looked back at Augustine behind her. “My dude, I’m such a fuckin’ Noctowl it’s not even funny. I just felt more like chocolate tonight, but the stars and-or ADD clearly dictate that tonight is a coffee kind of night.” She reached out and took Augustine’s cup from his hand and took a drink before he could react one way or another, then held it out for him to take back again. 

Augustine blinked, then took the proffered cup. “All right then,” he said. “Lead the way if you will, mon biquet.” 

“Your what?” Calem asked as she climbed. 

“Ah,” Augustine said, thinking. “It’s a term of endearment, is all. It translates to something like a, ah, baby goat. It seemed fitting.” 

Calem took several steps up in silence, then said, “Fair.” 

The next floor had a domed ceiling and was open to the elements in four places--where pipes of some sort rose through the floor and out the roof. There were wheel style faucet handles on each of the pipes, and some other machinery-- and what was clearly the axle of the windmill itself, with just enough gap in the walls that Calem could see the blades spinning by from inside the… attic, Calem supposed. 

There was a small staircase near the back of the room, leading into the ceiling-- and, on inspection, the hoped-for trapdoor style roof entry. “C’mon!” Calem said to Augustine as she pushed it open and walked outside. 

Augustine’s nerve failed him a bit here. “Calem,” he said slowly, “I know what you said about wise decisions, and mischief is all good fun, but I would be much more comfortable if you would--” he got to the top of the stairs and saw Calem had already walked the few steps to the central spire at the top of the roof. “If you’d slowly come back to the stairs, mon coeur.” 

“You can stay there if you want, worrywart,” Calem said, staring up at the sky. “I like it here, and I’m fine.” 

“Calem, I would like to remind you of the snow, and the fact that slipping on snow at any incline at this height would be a potentially  _ fatal _ mistake.” 

Calem’s smile fell and she looked down at Augustine. “Oh. Oh shit, yeah.” Calem hunkered down and scooted on her butt back to the hatch. 

“Thank you,” Augustine said. “Let us just sit on the steps, hm? Most of the experience of the roof, without risking falling to our untimely deaths.” He sat down next to Calem and handed her his coffee. 

She took a swig and handed it back. “Yeah, good point. Let’s… not do that. Sounds like a bad idea.” 

Augustine took his coffee back and had a drink himself, then said, “To put it lightly.” 

With both of them drinking the coffee, it didn’t take especially long to finish it off, but they didn’t leave quite yet. The clouds blotted out most of the stars, and the moon wasn’t bright, but enough was visible that it was a pretty enough sight. The town of Dendemille itself was also nice from this vantage-- the two weren’t that far above the highest cement tiers, but with the Christmas lights on nearly every non-moving surface, and the hazy sky above, Calem and Augustine seemed to be floating in a vaguely holiday-themed sea of stars. 

Eventually, Calem said, “Hey-- I just remembered, you said you got me something? If you want to wait until I’ve got you something that’s cool, but I just thought it might be neat to uh. Make the most of the moment, or something.” 

Augustine snickered. “I think  _ asking _ for a gift rather defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?” 

Calem hummed in thought. “Yeah, guess so. Forget I said anything.” 

“I would love to surprise you a little later with it anyhow,” Augustine said, “but as you may recall, I came to Dendemille this afternoon in response to Serena’s and your debacle with Flare. Apologies that your gift-- which has only ever been a trinket, I’ll have you know-- was not my first priority.” 

It took Calem a moment to laugh, due to mild surprise-- “Was that actually sarcasm? I didn’t know you had it in you Prof.” 

Augustine coughed and glanced away. “Yes, well, with the company I keep, I am not sure that such should be surprising.” 

Calem chuckled. “I guess not.” She then leaned over and gave Augustine a kiss on the cheek-- not quite as standoffish as a ‘peck’ usually denotes, but she didn’t especially linger, either. 

Augustine turned to look at Calem, who shrunk a bit and said, “Sorry, I guess that wasn’t exactly the, uh, most romantic--” As Calem spoke, Augustine had reached over to gently stroke the side of her face, startling her into stopping. His fingers came to rest at the curve of her jaw, then drew her forward as he leaned in himself, and kissed her. 

When he pulled back, he only did so a few inches. “No worries, ma cherie,” he said, and Calem could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheeks. 

Calem smiled, but pulled back a few more inches. “Heh, thanks,” she said, and studied his face for a quiet moment. “I’d love to keep going, but we’re still kind of at risk of falling up here,” and Calem gestured at the small lip between the stairs and the roof proper. 

Augustine chuckled and obliged, and closed the hatch behind them. 

“Maybe keep that open, actually,” Calem said, “it’s kind of dark in here without it.” 

“Do you have a problem with using your-- ah, Heliolisk, wasn’t it-- for Flash again?” 

Calem huffed. “I mean I  _ can _ but I was kind of hoping to kiss you again and I dunno, it seems weird to try to make out or whatever with a babysitter. Though it’s not like it would be any better in the dark or cold… Maybe we should just leave, sorry, this was a stupid idea.” In a moment, Panela was out again, and had Flashed at Calem’s request. 

“Calé, do not beat yourself up so much,” Augustine said. “This was a very fun idea, and I’m glad we came.” He strode over to her, hugged her shoulders, and gave her a kiss on the top of his head. 

Returning the hug, Calem said over Augustine’s shoulder, “Yeah, well… I kind of thought there would be windows up here or something and it would be Super Romantic but… it’s whatever, I guess.” 

“Romance is what you make of it, ma cher,” Augustine whispered, then pulled away and turned to the glowing Heliolisk beside them. “Pamela, was it? Would you mind, if you are able, to glow less brightly than you are now?”

Calem sniffed a laugh, and said, “Panela with an ‘n’, actually. Like Pamela, but also a joke about solar panels.” 

Augustine laughed in kind, and said, “Clever, ma choupinette.” As Panela was working on dimming her lumen output, Augustine dug into his pocket and released a Pokémon of his own-- Chandelure. “Careful, mon feu, don’t set the place aflame,” he said to it. “And this is Panela, a Pokémon of Calem’s.” 

The two Pokémon greeted each other, and seemed to fall into some kind of friendly conversation, probably ‘what kind of food do you like’ and other getting-to-know-you topics, Calem thought. 

“Merveilleux,” Augustine said, and turned back to Calem. “Our comrades are entertained by each other, the remnants of Panela’s flash and Lugulabre’s natural fire paint the walls in an ever-shifting mural… How do you find this, then, as a romantic setting?” 

The soft indigo and yellow light given off by the pair of Pokémon was less mosaic than just splotchy, and the effect less Van Gogh or Seurat than Warhol-- but it was nice nonetheless, and Calem couldn’t help but be moved by Sycamore’s ceaseless optimism. It was also heart-warming to know he’d done so to make the best of what she’d thought would be a good idea on its own-- not to mention that he’d chosen to spend Christmas with her.  _ Granted _ , this hadn’t been planned so much as it Just Happened after dealing with the morning’s events-- but still, he’d chosen to  _ stay _ here, rather than fly back to Lumiose and spend it with any of his other datemates. ...Which was still hard for Calem to wrap her head around, but the point stood: he was with her now, and he wasn’t being dragged along against his will, and was in fact an active participant in making their impromptu date go well. 

All of which shouldn’t really be all that surprising, but… Calem didn’t have a particularly great track record when it came to healthy people to have crushes on.  Pokémon Professor Sycamore, her boss, probably wasn’t a stellar choice of crush either but sssh. The confirmation that he really  _ did  _ want to be here rekindled Calem’s excitement, not to mention a new wave of affection for the man. So, naturally, she stepped towards him, leaned up, and kissed him. 

Augustine smiled against Calem’s lips for a moment, then wrapped an arm around her lower back and leaned into the kiss himself. He waited for her to deepen the kiss, but the change didn’t come. Having finally started to act on feelings he’d been tending for a few months now, he was anxious to continue-- but as he opened his eyes and saw Calemine’s youthful face, quite aware of the power imbalance. 

An idea formed in Sycamore’s head, a compromise that he hoped would work out. He took a few steps backwards, gently pulling Calem along, until his back bumped into the wall. 

Surprised by the impact, Calem jumped and pulled back from the kiss. “Oh, uh-- sorry, are you okay?” 

“Ma sucre d’orge, I am fine.” Augustine planted a kiss on Calem’s cheek before continuing, “I’d ask the same of you, though. You don’t seem entirely at ease, is anything the matter?” 

Calem shook her head quickly, opened her mouth to speak-- then hesitated. After a few moments, she said, “I’ve never dated or slept with dudes before, only girls.” Well, she’d  _ slept _ with girls, only dated the one. Still. “I dunno, I’m just kind of coming to terms with the whole… not being gay thing, and I  _ do _ want to kiss you, but it’s still weird.” 

That was… not the issue that Augustine had been expecting, but it was good to know about it sooner rather than later. “Let’s set both of our minds at ease, then,” he said. “You worry about the unfamiliar, I worry that our professional relationship may… coerce consent of you that may not be wholly legitimate. But still, we  _ want _ to continue, non?” Calem blinked, and nodded. Augustine stood flatter against the wall and raised his arms to his sides-- wrists up and against the wall, as if bound there. “I will respond to your touch, but will do nothing that you do not move me to do, or ask me to with words. We can stop whenever you would like, or continue as such. Is this acceptable?” 

“Yes… I think so,” Calem said. “Love how your solution to weird stuff is pretty much soft-core bondage, though.” 

Augustine seemed to redden at Calem’s words, though it was hard for her to tell in the shifting multi-colored light. “That was… not my intention, but I see the similarity. Ought we use a safe word too, then?” 

Oh, Arceus, Calem thought. That was just supposed to be a joke. This was moving a bit faster than she’d been ready for… but that just made the safe-word an even better idea. “Yes, okay. What should…” Something unlikely to come up naturally-- though she was hoping not to go  _ that _ far in the first place. Something that was incredibly unsexy, or at least ideally, but something neither of them would forget. 

“Talonflame,” she said. The memory of Femme Fatale was recent enough to still feel raw, but healed enough to use for this. 

Augustine, unaware of what was going through Calem’s head, grinned. “Merveilleux, ma cherie. I am ready, then, whenever you are.” 

Calem smiled back, and leaned in to kiss Augustine again. Even as she was uncomfortable with the thought that this might go as far as Actual Sex, getting into the mindset of sub and dom was comfortably familiar, and she found herself taking charge with ease. She deepened the kiss without hesitation this time, one hand going behind Augustine’s head to steady herself-- the other taking his wrist and moving him so that his palm rested on the swell of her breast. Admittedly, her chest was as much pectoral muscle as mammary tissue, she wasn’t mistaken for a dude so often for no reason, (though the butch aesthetic didn’t  _ help) _ \-- but at least this she was familiar with. 

It didn’t seem like Augustine minded that she wasn’t particularly Well Endowed in the boobs area, given the appreciative squeeze he gave it when his hand was placed. 

Calem’s hands started to wander, exploring Augustine’s arms and shoulders and chest-- even through clothes it was still so thoroughly unfamiliar. Not… bad, just odd. While Augustine was no musclebound athlete, he still had significantly more muscle mass than nearly anyone she’d ever been with, or at least it seemed that way by the shape of his arms. And of course, there was the lack of boob. Given his lithe frame, he didn’t even have man-boob-- either one from fat or pecs. Calem… wasn’t sure whether that would have been more or less strange. 

Augustine had, in this time, moved his hand down from her own breast, resting it on her hip, and touched her other one. Not super kosher in terms of actual dynamics as she’d known them (even if only a few times with that girl in Hoenn), but not violating the spirit of their agreement, so she wasn’t bothered. In fact… Calem pulled back from kissing Augustine to move his hand again, this time a few inches under the hem of her tee shirt. He smiled at her, and she smiled back for a moment, before leaning in and kissing him again-- sliding her own hand underneath his dress shirt as well. 

They explored each other’s bodies-- or at least their torsos-- for a little while. At one point, Calem had pulled back from kissing Augustine on the lips and had started kissing along his jaw (strange as that was), and had migrated down to his neck. As she arrived, though, Augustine let out a gasp and Calemine felt him twitch against her upper thigh-- and while she’d never experienced that before, she could guess what that was. 

She didn’t mean to spring back as quickly as she did, but being reminded that her inexperience here wasn’t just superficial was… jarring, at least. “S-sorry, sorry!” she said, out of breath for… at least a few reasons. “Um, I, uh-- Talonflame, I guess?” She took a few breaths to calm herself down, then repeated, a bit less frantically, “Yeah, uh. Yeah, I’m-- done. Talonflame. Still, sorry.” 

Augustine also took a few breaths to calm himself, if for somewhat different reasons. “You certainly know how to leave an impression, ma cherie,” he said, and chuckled softly. 

Calem gave him a lopsided smile. “Uh, I guess? ...I should probably go, though, this was-- I think this might have been a bad idea, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--” She started backing away, looking anywhere but at Augustine. 

As she finally turned and started to run, though, she found she couldn’t-- Augustine had caught her wrist. She turned back to him, seeing not the irritation she’d expected, just concern. “Cherie,” he said, “you may go if that’s truly what you want, but-- please do not think you’ve upset me, if that’s your concern. You’ve done nothing wrong.” 

Biting her lip, Calem looked at the wrist Augustine held, then up to his face, and back a few times. Finally, she said, “You’re sure?” 

“I am quite positive, ma amour. There is very little that you could do to upset me.” Augustine adjusted his grip on her hand, holding it more naturally, and brought it up to kiss her knuckles. “Leaving in an attempt to spare my feelings is about the only thing I can think of that would.” He smiled, then added as an afterthought, “Of course, if you need space for yourself, that’s a different matter.” 

Calemine laughed a bit breathily, though her face still showed signs of her anxiety. “All righty,” she said. “I… think I’m done here, but I  _ guess _ I don’t mind if you come along.” A bit more sincere chuckle followed this statement, after which Calem stuck out her tongue to hammer home the fact that she was at least  _ trying _ to tell a joke. 

Augustine nodded. “Lead the way, ma belle,” he said, and gestured towards the stairs. They made their way back down to the level they’d entered from-- Calem, Augustine, and Panela, that is; Lugulabre was withdrawn for fear of setting anything on fire-- and eventually made their way outside. 

“Aw, Arceus damn it all,” Calem said, on seeing that the coat she’d left there was covered in about an inch of freshly-fallen snow. She hadn’t paid attention to how she’d dropped it, so at least half of that was in contact with the inner lining of the thing, making it useless to her now. “Fuck me in the heart, it’s still snowing, too,” she added, on noticing that fact. 

Augustine looked to Calem’s small frame, and the coat in her hands, and to himself. Neither of them were particularly well dressed for the weather, but… 

Calem jumped as she felt something being placed on her shoulders, and looked at Augustine to see what that was about-- but when she saw him without his lab coat, she had her answer before she managed to ask. “Hey, that’s-- that’s not necessary, really! I love to complain like I’m feeding a damn Shuppet or something, but really the Pokémon Center isn’t that far.” 

“Indeed not, ma chere,” he said, “which is why you needn’t worry about me being cold until then. I won’t take it back, either, so you may wear it or just hold it, I do not mind either.” 

Grumbling, Calem slipped her arms through the sleeves. It wasn’t made to keep one warm, but it was better than her short-sleeved shirt leaving her arms bare to the Christmas midnight snow. 

The walk back to the Pokémon Center was quiet, but comfortably so. The snow seemed to dampen the sound of anything around, so that even with the movement of the falling flakes, everything seemed very still. Asleep, almost, and comforting-- if cold. 

In the lobby of the Pokémon center, Augustine hugged Calem close to himself. “I’m glad you’re back safe and sound, now, ma amie,” he said. “Now don’t wander like that again, please-- you worry me.” 

Calem was confused for a moment, until she realized this was likely for the benefit of the Nurse Joy that sat behind the counter. She seemed busy on her computer, but… it wouldn’t really Do for either herself or Sycamore to be too affectionate, would it. “I’m fine, Prof,” she said, “Though I’ll be sure to keep a Fire-type with me from now on, it’s easy to forget I don’t have a Talonflame anymore, you know?” 

“Oh, I hadn’t realized,” Sycamore said with a smile. “Your Talonflame is a nice Pokémon, what did you trade her for?” 

It took Calem a moment to respond. “Au--” She coughed, and hoped that sounded like ‘ah’ rather than the beginning of ‘Augustine’. “Professor, she, um-- she died.” 

“Then wh--” He stopped himself by clearing his throat, though the confused look on his face remained. “I hadn’t realized, ma cher. Condolences. Do try to be more careful in the future, though.” 

Calem nodded. “Can-do, Prof! And ah, I’ll-- I’ll explain about Fatale later, we should both sleep, probably. Night?” 

Sycamore nodded, and hugged Calem again-- this time hiding a kiss in her hair before pulling away. “Sleep well, ma amie. And don’t forget, if you ever need anything, all you need is to ask.” 

They were waving their goodbyes, then Sycamore was out the door, hopping on his Charizard, and flying in the direction of Lumiose City. 

...At which point Calem realized she was still wearing his lab coat. Oh, well, she could give it back to him later. 


	20. Christmas pt2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nsfw chapter. no plot movement! it's seriously just our beloved prof augustine sexymore being instrospective and also 'wobbles himself' lol.

When Sycamore’s Charizard touched down in front of his lab, he hadn’t expected any lights to be on inside-- but there was one, and two forms could be made out. By context, this was probably Dexio and Trevor, which fit the vague silhouettes he could see from the shadows.

Just Dexio would have been nice, but pulling him away from talking with Trevor-- whether as a friend or about Team Flare-- would be incredibly rude. They were on the third floor, though, in the employee’s lounge/library. This meant two things for Augustine: he could make his way to his apartment without going past them directly, as would have been the case had they been in the general lobby; however, he would have to be sure not to embarrass himself via noise. Not that Augustine was in much risk of this while on his own, but he _had_ been worked up enough earlier that it wouldn’t be entirely surprising. Perhaps he’d have to gag himself, he thought with amusement.

That thought led him to an idea, though. Calem, earlier, hadn’t seemed too upset by the idea of bondage, and honestly while he’d never quite convinced any of his partners to engage with it, Augustine had certainly gained some interest in it over the years. He had always been the one making the romantic moves, sweeping folks off their feet-- Lysandre excluded, but they’d fallen together when they were hardly more than boys. In every other relationship Augustine had had, he had always been the one in ‘control,’ and it was very nice to relinquish that control for a time.

(It was a shame that Lysandre was so stand-offish, these past few years. The power dynamic he had with Augustine was interesting, and something the latter enjoyed to an extent, but he and Lys hardly ever spoke, anymore. They hadn’t seen each other since they’d worked on the synthetic Mega Keystone, and Sycamore had left his own Keystone with Lys for further research. The trust was there, but the emotional closeness… was not.)

That very power dynamic is what had worried Augustine about Calem for… a while, to say the least. He hadn’t intended to coerce Sina and Dexio into dating him, and everything _seemed_ to have turned out for the best-- at least partially because the two were already in a relationship before they started under him, probably. But still, Augustine worried.

Which made the idea of Calem, his professional subordinate, anxious and socially awkward and flighty, being the one to dominate _him_ that much more enticing.

Augustine made his way to his apartment with these thoughts swirling about his head, and when he stepped in moved to take off his lab coat-- until he grabbed only air, and was reminded that he wasn’t wearing it. Not that he’d _forgotten_ , per sé, but his habitual motion’s interruption brought again to the forefront of his mind, the image of Calem in his too-large coat.

_His_ . While Augustine wasn’t possessive in the way that monogamous people were, there was still something deep inside him that celebrated at the public claim that she was _his_ , that he had claimed her for his own polycule. He couldn’t _actually_ publically declare that, and yes he’d made excuses so the Nurse at the center wouldn’t talk… or at least, wouldn’t have irrefutable proof. The excuses he’d made were pretty flimsy, and Augustine was fairly sure he’d still looked flushed from their _coitus interruptus_ \-- though perhaps that could have been attributed to the cold.

Regardless of bystanders, Calem still wore his coat. If she gave it back of her own accord, he’d accept, but Augustine had several lab coats. The idea of her wearing it was better than having it back-- especially since she would likely get her own lab coat at some point, meaning that he might be able to see her walking about with his coat on without it being damning evidence of their relationship.

For now, though, all he had was his imagination, and whatever he could find in his small apartment.

He’d been joking with himself when he thought of the gag earlier, but if he was working with this submissive theme, then something physical could help enliven the fantasy. A clean sock would do, he decided-- he had plenty. Ties for his hands wouldn’t actually be helpful in a solo setting, so nothing necessary there. ...There wasn’t a whole lot one could _do_ by oneself without some level of actual danger, actually, and auto-erotic asphyxiation was not worth the risk, Augustine decided. The sock would have to do.

Sycamore sat on his bed, took a condom out of a drawer from his bedside cabinet, and lay down. If he closed his eyes, he could think back to earlier that night, visualize the the way Calem looked at him. The excitement, slightly short of breath, focused so strongly on himself-- for once not entirely sarcastic, though Augustine didn’t doubt that her features could slip back into that sardonic expression without much difficulty.

That blend of features wasn’t something he’d seen quite yet-- but he hoped to. Augustine could imagine Calem kneeling, but still much taller than his prone form. Wearing nothing but his lab coat and-- hm, she didn’t seem like the type to wear lingerie. What he’d felt of her bra earlier seemed like it was a typical sports bra-- granted, she’d been planning on training that day. Still, she would look more at home wearing… his boxers, perhaps. No top aside from the lab coat, which lay open at either side of her muscular chest.

Calem had expressed discomfort at his gender, citing inexperience. In reality, he’d likely wait for her to come to terms with this in her own time-- their first true sexual encounter would likely involve him manually satisfying her, without asking her to touch him any more than she was entirely comfortable with.

In Augustine’s fantasy, though, Calem might be a little more proactive on that front. She was no longer around to actually kiss him, but the memory of her lips on his neck was easily reawakened by tracing his finger over the skin there, just barely touching. His other hand went to his crotch, palming himself through his pants-- already remarkably hard, given the lack of release earlier.

He could feel the fabric of his pants, which made it difficult to stay immersed in the fantasy that it was _her_ hand, feeling the shape of him before dealing with the unadulterated reality. But maybe, someday-- later rather than sooner, he knew, but eventually, this could _be_ her hand. Calem would be hesitant, but curious, hopefully. Unsure, but explorative. Augustine’s hands were (supposedly) tied to the headboard, so he couldn’t reach out to her-- but he could lean forward a bit, and if she was close enough he’d kiss her, reassurance that she was doing fine.

When she was ready, Calem would be the one undoing his pants, slipping her hand inside. How would her hands feel? She was young, but much more active than he was, having shown little hesitation at jumping across the gap to the windmill, no plan in place in case she failed. She was active enough that she was able to assume she wouldn’t fail. Earlier, her fingers hadn’t felt especially calloused against his stomach, but the skin there wasn’t nearly as sensitive as his member. Would he feel subtle calluses on her fingers, grown through her constant journeying, jumping, climbing, riding; or did she keep them soft? Calem didn’t do hard labor, so while his own hands were larger than hers, he decided to err on the side of similarity as he stroked himself.

Suddenly, a buzzing noise startled Augustine from his imagining. He turned and saw his holo caster on the bedside dresser-- where he’d forgotten it this morning, after getting Shauna’s call. ...His gratification had been put off once before, he could handle being disappointed again, especially since the Holo only indicated a text, rather than a call. Having been away, he should at least make sure he hadn’t missed anything _else_ urgent while satisfying his own heart.

There were a few texts he’d missed during the day, but most of those were belated “ _joyeux noel!”_ and the like. The most recent was… Calem’s. Augustine smirked and opened the text.

 

  * _C: So I just realized that if today is christmas, and we decided to Actually Be Dating two nights ago, that means it was the 23rd, right?_


  * _C: (look I know I should have known the date anyway im just bad at all that ok)_


  * _C: The point is. We started dating on christmas adam. Fuckin._


  * _C: Idk if youve heard the joke before so its like this: christmas adam comes before christmas eve, and is generally unsatisfying._


  * _C: ...okay that sounded worse than i meant it to be like Considering Everything sorry_



 

Augustine couldn’t help chuckling, or responding:

 

  * _S: I’m not offended, ma cherie. I just hope to prove you wrong._



 

It didn’t even cross Sycamore’s mind that that might be inappropriate, given he was in the privacy of his room and he’d passed what was considered acceptable by the public long ago.

But it was so… energizing, indulging in all this. Augustine knew this was just that New Relationship Energy, that he wouldn’t maintain this level of interest in Calem forever-- but for now, he felt drunk on the feeling, and just wanted to maintain his high... even if that _was_ mixing metaphors.

 

  * _S: tonight was fun. I look forward to a repeat._



 

  * _C: Yeahhhh uh glad you think so?_


  * _C: Sorry I kinda totally bailed the fuck out I just_


  * _C: idk sorry_



 

  * _S: is there anything I can do to make you comfortable? either now or in the future._



 

  * _C: I dunno dude_


  * _C: Also hey uh is it a good idea to be talking about this over text bc I feel like there’s a very good chance it’s not_



 

Augustine considered. It… wasn’t entirely unheard of for text files to be dug up from folks’ mobile devices-- not Casters so far, though. Lysandre seemed to have a very tight hold on the security measures there. An actual holo _call_ wouldn’t leave files stored on the casters to be snooped upon by other people, but Augustine was unsure if he’d be able (or willing) to hide his aroused state from her, which given her previous discomfort, would be beyond rude. 

 

  * _S: I am sure it is fine, ma cherie. Fleur de Lis Labs’ security is unrivaled._


  * _S: however, if you are uncomfortable I will cease and desist_



 

  * _C: Um_


  * _C: Yeah I think probably thanks_


  * _C: To answer before were done or w/e thoguh_


  * _C: *though_


  * _C: Just… guess I need a little time to get used to it_


  * _C: Time and space_


  * _C: Im like fuckin sinnoh up here haha_


  * _C: but yeah okay so really hoping youre not Upset or something idk youre not saying anything so my awful brain is telling me you hate me_



 

  * _S: I can guarantee that I do not hate you, ma amour._



 

  * _C: Oh thank arceus_



 

  * _S: that is all very reasonable to ask._


  * _S: for now, then, I presume you’ll be sleeping soon in order to travel again in the morning?_



 

  * _C: Probs yeah_


  * _C: Hadnt thought about it but guess i should_



 

  * _S: bonne nuit, mon sucre d’orge. fais de beaux reves._



 

  * _C: Yeah all i understood of that was good night and im only like 80% sure of that_


  * _C: Maybe less_



 

  * _S: Sweet dreams, my sweet._



 

Augustine had somewhat been hoping Calem would relent, say that the security was her only issue, so he could text her sweet nothings, little fantasies of pleasing her. On the other hand, he didn’t want to do that unless she _also_ wanted it, so even if he was a little disappointed, he was no worse off than before.

Though now, he had some new things to think about. Where would he be in a year? Still in Lumiose, physically-- but will the coming year bring any significant breakthroughs? Who would his staff be? Trevor and Tierno are his assistants, but earning high school credit rather than payroll, and would probably be gone. Serena and Shauna are both promising individuals, though harder to guess where they would choose to go. Serena would likely manage to become the Champion, if not this year then likely next.

Sina and Dexio would probably still be dealing with Team Flare more often than not, or possibly (doubtfully) Flare would have faded into obscurity by then. The couple could go back to doing the actual, scientific field work they’re officially paid for, and spend more of the time at the lab, working with Augustine in reviewing the data.

While Lysandre would certainly be a tech mogul for the foreseeable future, would this coming year have anything interesting for him? Would Augustine manage to get through to him again, to reconnect? They were hardly a few blocks away, and yet… Augustine found he missed Lysandre terribly. He had always had that prickly shell, but it had been so long since Augustine had seen anything but a fleeting glance of the passionate man he used to be, driven to save the world-- one invention at a time.

And Calem, where would she be… There was no guarantee of her presence beyond the coming spring semester, but Augustine had little doubt that he could easily get her internship extended through the next summer and fall with a letter of recommendation. Given her work ethic while doing the League Challenge circuit, he was certain that she would be an asset worth keeping, even beyond his budding nepotism.

Would they still be together? Augustine hoped so; he only started dating Sina and Dexio a little over two years ago now, and not long after they were hired. He’d known them as interns before they started officially, but only for a semester. Regrettable decisions were made, but in the end, they were all unharmed and happy. Hopefully, Calem would be as happy next year.

It would be nice to celebrate an apparent Christmas Adam anniversary by pleasing her.

Augustine would lay Calem down on the bed-- this bed, surrounded by votive candles for mood lighting-- and kiss her on the way down. After she was settled, he would trail kisses down her jaw and to her neck, much like she had tonight. He might linger there, kiss a bit harder, marking her as his own in yet another way. Meanwhile, his fingers would slide down her sides, slipping up and under her shirt, and then her bra. Lightly, being sure not to hurt her, he would pinch and roll her nipple, maybe adding a flick for good measure.

It would be fun to tease her like this for a little while, switching nipples to play with, eventually trailing his kisses down to whichever nipple he didn’t have his hand on at the moment, but only for a time. Soon enough it would be time to trail his lips down further, using his hands to undo the button of her pants, but teeth for as much else as he could-- though perhaps he could squeeze her rear on the way down.

More teasing through the fabric of her panties, using one finger to trace the edges of her lower lips. What kind of sounds would she be making at this point? Whines, moans, grunts, breathy sighs? Calem would likely not be sitting silent and still, at any rate. Augustine wouldn’t draw out the teasing, though, and after a few strokes would slip his hand under the fabric, slipping a finger inside her, then after a few moments, another. With each movement of his hand, she would-- twitch? Moan? When she was beginning to mount her peak, he would caress her clit, applying just enough pressure to send a jolt up those nerves. And she would--

Augustine came, having been stroking himself this whole time. He realized with some dismay that he’d forgotten to ever put the condom on, and now had made a mess of himself and his clothes.

After he deposited his dirtied clothes into his hamper, he made for the shower to wash up the rest of the way. ...Perhaps a source for another fantasy, but not now. He was spent, but satisfied.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trying to name every chapter with a word(s) beginning with c was a bad decision I made in dec 2013 and I'm proud I made it as long as I did but I really just. can't. figure out what to do here lol

Once Calem got inside her room at the Pokémon Center, the first thing she did was to release Marius and ask him for a hug.

The second thing Calem did was to sit on her bed and get out her Holo Caster and scroll through her contact list, trying to find _someone_ to talk to. Not about anything in particular-- ideally, about nothing related to anything in her own life. She didn’t want to think about all that right now.

The name _Marzanna_ came up in her contacts, and Calem paused. It should be in the middle of the day there in Alola, right? Anyone here in Kalos or even stateside in Unova and Orre would probably be asleep by now and/or still, depending on frame of reference. But Alola--

Though Calem realized as she was starting to type out a text to Marzanna, and edited what she said t reflect as much:

 

  * _C: Hey girl! Is it still xmas there or is it tomorrow in alola?_
  * _C: Either way I hope you have/had a merry one_



 

Calem was informed of the fact that Marius had apparently left the room and come back by the fact that, when she looked up from sending this text, the Lucario was proffering her a mug of reasonably warm coffee. She accepted and added her thanks, then watched him move about the room as she waited for her reply.

There weren’t a whole lot of amenities in the private rooms themselves, which Calem couldn’t fault the Center for what with them being free to Trainers and all. Still, Marius tidied up, straightening a picture frame with a print that probably came from the extra-clearance section of a Thrifty MegaMart, and so unmemorable that Calem legitimately couldn’t place whether she’d seen the same print in other Pokémon Centers or not. After that, Marius poked at the faucet in the small sink provided in the room, finding some napkins in Calem’s traveling gear to wipe away some of the calcium spots around the spigot.

When Calem got the buzz that let her know her waiting had not been in vain after all, Marius was digging through her bags again-- or, well, given he was a Pokémon, perhaps ‘digging’ wasn’t quite the right word. Sorting carefully through her belongings, clearly searching for something, but methodically removing what was necessary to remove and just shifting what wasn’t. Calem shook her head with a smile and looked at her holo.

 

  * _M: yeah its still xmas!_
  * _M: not much to do rly_
  * _M: we have 1 tour scheduled this afternoon but thats it_
  * _M: if you gotta slp thats cool but if you feel like talking id love the distraction lol_



 

Calem chuckled at her phone before responding.

 

  * _C: Nah sleep is for the weak lol_
  * _C: And wow, you’re working on christmas? What a bummer_



 

  * _M: eh_
  * _M: not like i have anyting better to do_
  * _M: parents are overseas so like_
  * _M: if they got me a present its probs still in the mail_



 

  * _C: Oh damn. :c that sucks_



 

  * _M: i guess?_
  * _M: i mean its been a few years since i started at alola u so im used to it_
  * _M: and anyway my dad has missed So Many Holidays for business trips this isnt even new lol_



 

  * _C: Ah yeah. I know how that goes_
  * _C: Not business exactly but my dad’s unova miltary?_
  * _C: So like. Moved a lot as a kid and then he was out and back a lot_
  * _C: When I was a kid he was gone for a few months straight in the whole Desert Storm thing unova did_
  * _C: Not anywhere near lt surge or anything but it was still like. Cool to hear about later i guess_



 

  * _M: oh wow_
  * _M: yeah_
  * _M: yeah so you know how it is_
  * _M: not that big a deal that family isnt here or w/e_
  * _M: though molayne did say hes gonna have a xmas dinner with everyone here later_
  * _M: so thats cool_



 

  * _C: Nice! Give him my holiday greetings or w/e._
  * _C: so is it going to be space themed or something?_



 

  * _M: oh wow_
  * _M: yknow that hadnt even like_
  * _M: occurred to me_
  * _M: this is the first year ive been here so idk_
  * _M: that would be super cute tho_
  * _M: so like what have you been up to?_
  * _M: the way you asked about xmas i figure the days over for you?_



 

It took Calem a few minutes to decide how she wanted to answer that, and even then she felt the need to stall for time.

 

  * _C: Technically its still christmas but yeah its pretty late_
  * _C: I also dont have family close and since Im doing the league challenge I thought itd be a good day to train_
  * _C: But it turned out that the local mob or whatever was trying to Do A Thing and I had to help the Actual Rising Star Trainer for this year take them down_
  * _C: Then she went somewhere to make out with her girlfriend and I was left behind with my boss which like lol awkward_



 

...Nothing technically a lie there. And the former, unsurprisingly, caught Marzie’s attention more than the latter, anyway. Nice, but not surprising.

 

  * _M: you what???_
  * _M: i dont really keep up with other regions news unless its where my parents are or something and even then im kinda…..._
  * _M: eh_
  * _M: but yeah so the mob???_
  * _M: you cant just say that so casually_



 

  * _C: Ah yknow its not a big deal_



 

Says the girl who called Sycamore crying about the whole thing a month or so ago. Calem frowned at herself, thankful that they were texting rather than on holo chat. Not that she even knew if Marzanna had the capability to holo cast, but _still_.

 

  * _C: But yeah like the mob is called team flare or whatever_
  * _C: And they were doing Some Shit to an abomasnow trying to get it to mega I think?_
  * _C: My Rival this time around is great at battling but sometimes stupid about rushing into things and she was trying to fight these guys on her own_
  * _C: I had to go in as backup and all that. Good stuff_
  * _C: And together we saved the day. Me and Serena and my Lucario Marius mostly_



 

  * _M: wow thats so cool!_
  * _M: like dang_
  * _M: you should send me some pictures of your team at some point_
  * _M: I love pkmn but like_
  * _M: dont really have the time/energy to care for many_
  * _M: let alone battle and raise them_
  * _M: I’ve got a couple minior mostly bc theyre on theme n easy to take care of_
  * _M: and pretty! but yeah lol_



 

“Hey, Marius, c’m’ere for a sec.” The Lucario looked up from what he’d been doing-- stretching, Calem thought, though she only looked at him as she called for him, so she wasn’t sure. He tilted his head in confusion, but did as asked, walking over-- to be hugged around the shoulder and told to “Smile!” as Calem took a selfie with him, her face pressed beside his, hand that wasn’t holding the phone making a peace sign.

Marius blinked at her as she said, “Thanks, hon,” andkissed his forehead, then went back to her phone to send the picture to Marzanna.

 

  * _C: Others are asleep in their balls probs but Marius keeps me company like_
  * _C: Most of the time lol_



 

  * _M: wow! hes so cute_
  * _M: man youve got such an exciting and cool life_
  * _M: i  mean i like working here at the observatory dont get me wrong yknow_
  * _M: but sometimes i just wish i could go on an adventure or w/e_
  * _M: esp these last few days_
  * _M: there were no tours at all yesterday_
  * _M: scheduled or otherwise_
  * _M: and only one the day before pretty early in the morning_
  * _M: fitting i guess w it being xmas adam_



 

Calem squinted at her screen, vaguely aware of Lucario leaning on her shoulder and reading the conversation. As she tried to figure out what Marzie meant, she ruffled a hand through Marius’ dreadlocks, and he made an appreciative sound. Eventually, though, she gave up and had to ask.

 

  * _C: Christmas adam?_



 

  * _M: oh sorry i forget thats not actually a well known thing lol_
  * _M: just some dumb internet joke_
  * _M: just that like_
  * _M: xmas adam-- comes before xmas eve and is generally unsatisfying_



 

Another few seconds of consternated staring, and then it clicked in Calem’s mind and she let out a few peals of laughter that were a lot louder than she’d been trying to be, this late at night.

 

  * _C: Wow_
  * _C: Thats fucking hilarious_
  * _C: So three days of late dec holidays which go from silly to legit great as they go on_



 

...Wait. This morning, long ago as it seemed, did in fact start with the whole Flare incident. Yesterday was the Christmas party that Calem noped the fuck out of, apparently held on christmas eve. Which meant that the night she crashed on Sycamore’s couch… Awkward as fuck or not, she had to share this with Augustine.

 

  * _C: So I just realized that if today is christmas, and we decided to Actually Be Dating two nights ago, that means it was the 23rd, right?_
  * _C: (look I know I should have known the date anyway im just bad at all that ok)_
  * _C: The point is. We started dating on christmas adam. Fuckin._
  * _C: Idk if youve heard the joke before so its like this: christmas adam comes before christmas eve, and is generally unsatisfying._
  * _C: ...okay that sounded worse than i meant it to be like Considering Everything sorry_



 

As Calem was typing her messages to Augustine, she got a reply from Marzanna.

 

  * _M: right??_
  * _M: though calling xmas ‘legit gr8’ for either of us sounds like_
  * _M: a stretch_
  * _M: it sure used to be but idk its just another day anymore_



 

  * _C: Yeah thats true_
  * _C: The morning was pretty great for me but that was bc of the adventure not the date_
  * _C: Well itll be late but i could buy a gift to send you if youd like?_
  * _C: I know you said your folks probably already have something in the mail but like_
  * _C: Idk Id like to make you smile_
  * _C: you’ve got such a pretty one <3_



 

She’d gotten a text from Augustine now. Tie to juggle conversations, Calem supposed.

 

  * _S: I’m not offended, ma cherie. I just hope to prove you wrong._



 

Um. Uhhh. That was sexual, right? Given the stiffness Calem had felt against her thigh earlier, and the fact that it was a sex joke she’d fired at him. Then the caster buzzed in her hand, and she had another text from him.

 

  * _S: tonight was fun. I look forward to a repeat._



 

...That answered that question, anyway. Which, all right, it was her own actions that led the both of them here. And it wasn’t even like Calem wasn’t attracted to Augustine-- she was, very much so. It was just Strange and New and she noped the fuck out of anything she didn’t know how to handle, it seemed like.

 

  * _C: Yeahhhh uh glad you think so?_
  * _C: Sorry I kinda totally bailed the fuck out I just_
  * _C: idk sorry_



 

  * _S: is there anything I can do to make you comfortable? either now or in the future._



 

Calem laughed ruefully to herself. To be able to answer him, she’d have to know the answer to that herself. As it stood, ‘be a woman’ wouldn’t even be the answer, because Calem wasn’t sure how she’d handle being with a trans woman. Which was… shitty, especially with how gender-non-conforming she was herself, but here she was.

 

  * _C: I dunno dude_



 

...Hey, this was _the regional Pokémon Professor_ she was texting with, making dirty jokes and talking about illicit trysts with, even if it had been broken off early. This was possibly a bad idea.

 

  * _C: Also hey uh is it a good idea to be talking about this over text bc I feel like there’s a very good chance it’s not_



 

After sending that, Calem remembered she hadn’t checked whatever Marzanna had said last. Juggling conversations, dropping one ball to focus on the other and then letting that one flop to the ground while picking up the first… same difference, right?

 

  * _M: haha thanks_
  * _M: dont think i agree but its nice to hear_
  * _M: not sure why youre even interested in me tbh?_
  * _M: youre so cool and doing league challenge like…_
  * _M: professional battlers are so cool_
  * _M: dont have the mind for that kind of strategy_
  * _M: so like even if i wanted to id never be able to lol_
  * _M: im pretty hilariously bad at even friendly battles between staff or occasionally visitors_
  * _M: molayne has a few different teams and he battled me with what was probably his least-trained one once_
  * _M: still wiped the efing floor with me lol_
  * _M: ...you still there?_
  * _M: sorry i dont mean to ramble im just bored and idk just_
  * _M: yeah sorry ill shut up_



 

Oh nooo. No that’s not what Calem had meant to do at all.

 

  * _C: Nooo, youre fine! <3_



 

...Calem started typing ‘I just’ but it took her a moment to think of an excuse.

 

  * _C: I just was getting Marius untangled from the landline phone cord in here_
  * _C: he saw a non-pokemonic bug_
  * _C: one of those teensy annoying fuckers_
  * _C: and was trying to swat it but he got tangled and it was a Mess_
  * _C: didn’t mean to leave you so suddenly </3_
  * _C: Im just easily distracted is all lol_



 

Marzanna didn’t reply right away, so Calem tabbed back to make sure she didn’t leave Augustine hanging, too. Not to mention, Marius had started to snooze against her shoulder, but Calem wasn’t sure how long that would last, and wasn’t sure he’d appreciate being used as her excuse.

 

  * _S: I am sure it is fine, ma cherie. Fleur de Lis Labs’ security is unrivaled._
  * _S: however, if you are uncomfortable I will cease and desist_



 

Yeah, Augustine thought the world of Lysandre. Calem couldn’t see it, but it seemed like there was history there-- but also, like. A _lot_ of bias. True, his public biography did seem to indicate he was very skilled at both the engineering side of invention, and managing a business-- including hiring folks to cover areas he wasn’t personally as strong in. Still, Calem wasn’t just going to take Augustine’s word for it that they were definitely secure.

She should probably at least _attempt_ to let Augutine know why the fuck she was being so weird, though.

 

  * _C: Um_
  * _C: Yeah I think probably thanks_
  * _C: To answer before were done or w/e thoguh_
  * _C: *though_
  * _C: Just… guess I need a little time to get used to it_
  * _C: Time and space_
  * _C: Im like fuckin sinnoh up here haha_
  * _C: but yeah okay so really hoping youre not Upset or something idk youre not saying anything so my awful brain is telling me you hate me_



 

Speaking of social anxiety from being left unread for too long.

 

  * _M: haha okay_
  * _M: doesnt change that youre cool and im not lol_



 

  * _C: Marzie youre so cool thoguh_
  * _C: You work at the frickin biggest earth-based telescope on the planet_
  * _C: And alola u has done some of the best astronomy/astrophysics/etc work in the past like_
  * _C: Decades???_
  * _C: Idk if I tld you that back when i wanted to be an astrophysicist_
  * _C: Dont have the brain for all that math esp not classical physics_
  * _C: But god its still so fuckin cool_
  * _C: And youre right in the middle of all that_



 

Aaand then speaking of having a crush on someone in the middle of scientific progress...

 

  * _S: I can guarantee that I do not hate you, ma amour._



 

  * _C: Oh thank arceus_



 

  * _S: that is all very reasonable to ask._
  * _S: for now, then, I presume you’ll be sleeping soon in order to travel again in the morning?_



 

  * _C: Probs yeah_
  * _C: Hadnt thought about it but guess i should_



 

  * _S: bonne nuit, mon sucre d’orge. fais de beaux reves._



 

  * _C: Yeah all i understood of that was good night and im only like 80% sure of that_
  * _C: Maybe less_



 

  * _S: Sweet dreams, my sweet._



 

Calem felt her cheeks burning at the _sweet_ exchange, nuzzling her face into Marius’ hair in embarrassment for a moment. He stirred, and turned his head just a fraction to look at her, then wrapped his arm across her shoulders.

“Thanks, kid,” she said into his fur, before pulling back. Augustine-- the Professor, who had a busy schedule and had guided many a trainer before herself-- was probably right, though. She should sleep. And she should probably tell Marzanna that.

 

  * _M: i guess_
  * _M: i mostly just guide tours here though_



 

  * _C: Honestly though you work w the equipment and know what it does_
  * _C: Not to mention that being casual friend w molayne like it sounds like you are_
  * _C: Should give you better chances to do more stuff eventually_
  * _C: Anyway sorry to cut off heaping praise on you_
  * _C: (Which you totes deserve btw)_



 

...Yeah, maybe it was time to go to bed even if Augustine hadn’t said anything-- Calem was laying it on too thick. And it wasn’t like she was likely to see this girl again soon, so there was no ‘putting out’ or not. On the other hand, she’d started flirting with Marzanna in the first place because it was just _fun_.

 

  * _C: But yeah like i know i said sleep is for the weak_
  * _C: Buuut i guess Im weak lol_
  * _C: And I think my rival and her grilfriend probs went on ahead_
  * _C: So if I don’t wanna be left in the dust I should get a move on tomorrow morning lol_
  * _C: Merry rest of your christmas babe_
  * _C: I hope you get something special before the day is out <3_




	22. Chapter 22

With the PokéPuffs officially on their way to Alola-- two each to Marzanna and Molayne, even if the latter was more a matter of convenience than the proper thank you that it should be-- Calem strode confidently towards the snow-covered mountain pass that was Route 17. 

 

Marius walked beside her, posture a bit hunched and glance sliding towards his trainer often. He didn’t like this at all, but one of the things he admired about her, what had drawn him to her in the first place, was the friendly competitive nature that now drove her to catch up to Serena and Shauna. 

 

The main issue was that those two had already ridden the Mamoswine that carried trainers across the pass during the winter months yesterday, shortly after their collective party had saved its friend the Abomasnow-- and, importantly, the natural taxi wasn’t back yet. 

 

The trainer and Pokémon got to the edge of the pass, where the snow hadn’t piled too deeply yet, and Calem started to release the other five members of her party-- Gryffindor, the (male) Pyroar; Capt. Falcon, the Blaziken; Tiamat, the Mega-capable Charizard; Nosegay, the Aromatisse; and Oracle, the Absol. 

 

It would have been nice if Femme Fatale, the Talonflame, had still been around, for her Flame Body, but these would do well enough. 

 

“All right, kids!” Calem said, as the Pokémon were stretching and taking in their surroundings. “We’ll be melting our way through this snow, so I’ll need--” 

 

A yowl from Oracle interrupted Calem. The Absol’s eyes were wide and staring at… nothing that the trainer could see, or any of the rest of her party, from their expressions. Which meant either her Pokémon was hallucinating, or… Shit, Calem had thought the thing about visions was just folklore. 

 

When the Absol became responsive again, she looked around her for a second time, then quickly went around Calem to push her trainer in the direction of the snow. Marius pulled her off, and then the two seemed to discuss-- in Pokémonic language, of course, so the very human Calem understood none of it. 

 

Marius pantomimed to translate what he could, but charades was hard enough when you could cheat. “Someone… attacked me? ...Will attack me.” Calem put her hand on her chin as she tried to interpret the rest of what Marius was doing. “Probably with a knife?” That assumption was from the stabbing motion that the Lucario kept repeating; and he pointed back towards the city where only one tall building could kind of be seen, and… well,  _ windmilling _ his arms. “It happens by the windmill?” 

 

Marius and Oracle looked at each other, and both seemed to shrug. Calem wasn’t sure  _ how _ a quadrupedal creature could shrug, but the Absol managed, anyhow. 

 

And with that, they  _ both _ pushed Calem towards the snowy pass. Not forcefully, but enough to get the point across: they needed to get moving. And hell, if an Absol had a vision and wanted to help her prevent it, by doing  _ exactly the thing she was planning on anyways, _ Calem wasn’t going to argue. 

  
  


In hindsight, the fact that only the path straight through the pass had shown signs of Mamoswine’s mammoth crossing probably meant that not only had Shauna and Serena started out earlier than her, but were likely in Anistar only a few hours after they’d set out. 

 

Unfortunately Calem was  _ apparently  _ a Murkrow, wanting to gather as many tiny treasures-- as many  _ useless shiny things  _ as she could. Every branching path, Calem had felt the need to get Tia or Gryff or Cap to melt away the snow banks, had asked Marius or Cap again to punch or kick their way through the large rocks blocking the path. Earlier in the day, the chance of rare stones had seemed worth it. 

 

Now that the sun had set, the ambient temperature dropped from ‘cold’ to ‘holy shitballs this was a bad idea wasn’t it’. 

 

Partially that was because it was cold, and-- well, technically Calem’s boredom was rooted in the freezing winds, too. The issue wasn’t that Calem was freezing to death; on the contrary, she had a campfire going in a small fire circle, with Oracle and Marius nestled up on either side of her, and Gryffindor behind. She was mostly in the lee side of the mountain, for now, under an outcropping of rock that kept any fresh snow falling, but sometimes she would have Tiamat shield the area with her wings and refresh the campfire. She was resting in her Pokéball for now, though, so that none of the party suffered from exposure. 

 

So, true, Calem was fine enough for now-- but she couldn’t really move from this spot anymore without changing that status, and there was fuckall to do here, either. 

 

...Earlier, when Calem had called Marzanna while looking through the various nooks and crannies for anything worthwhile or otherwise, the signal had been perhaps a bit spotty occasionally but mostly fine. It hadn’t been a long call, due to the time difference and how late it was in Alola at the time Calem had called, and it was maybe kind of weird to call a girl you were only in the beginning stages of making friends with (/courting?) just to ramble while walking. 

 

It would  _ definitely _ be weird to call Marzanna again now, even if the other girl was awake by now. 

 

...It would probably not be weird to call Sycamore, given Calem’s previous track record. In fact, it was probably already weird that she hadn’t done so yet. That was to say, he probably was wondering why she hadn’t bothered him yet, but… 

 

Calem still couldn’t quite shake how he’d felt against her when they kissed in the windmill, and it wasn’t nearly as pleasant as the afterglow Calem was used to. It was weird in an interesting way, and then it was exciting, but then all at once it just felt-- off, Calem supposed. 

 

If only all that had somehow nullified the whole emotional entanglement deal, which would leave Calem free to break off their ill-advised tete-a-tete and rid herself of this crawling feeling. But no, she couldn’t stand the thought of insulting Augustine like that, or letting him down, even. 

 

A number of times over a few hours, Calem tried to call Augustine on her Holo Caster -- or, well, tried to  _ make herself _ call him. Technical difficulties had nothing to do with her failure to contact him. 

 

Eventually, though, she thought the decision had been made for her when her ringtone played, and she answered without thinking. “Oh, hey Aug--” Calem cut herself off when she realized the face in front of her was Lysandre’s. 

 

Lysandre took a moment to raise an eyebrow at her, then continued on as if he hadn’t noticed. “According to our esteemed colleague Professor Sycamore’s research on the biology and effects of Mega Evolution, the process releases all of a Pokémon’s internal, and even hidden energy at once-- the Pokémon then displays a level of power it could not attain through ordinary evolution or otherwise.” 

 

There was finally a break in Lysandre’s words, and it seemed as if he was waiting for Calem to respond. “Uh… yeah, that sounds about right I guess?” she said, a confused frown painting her face. “Why did you call to tell me this?” 

 

“What meaning,” Lysandre said, “can we as philosophers, as scientists-- or even just as trainers-- draw from this?” 

 

Calem thought for a moment, but… “I’m not sure I follow. It’s… big news for the battle circuit, sure, that the means of Mega Evolution have resurface and are accessible to a more general public than--”

 

“The ‘general public,’ Calem?” Lysandre interrupted. “Calem, tell me, how many trainers have you found that have known about the keystone necessary for Mega Evolution, let alone currently possessed one, a Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution, the appropriate Mega Stone, and a strong enough personal bond to activate the process?” 

 

There wasn’t an easy response to that. Calem certainly didn’t want to admit that Lysandre made some very good points, because that might lead to admitting he probably  _ often _ made good points. For now, she just frowned, and muttered, “Yeah, what of it?” 

 

Before he resumed speaking, Lysandre’s hands came into view of the hologram bust as he steepled his fingers before his chin. “Do all people and Pokémon even  _ have _ such potential, if given the right materials-- or is it an ability hidden within the chosen few?” 

 

At this, Calem snorted her derision. “Yeah, sure. And Pokémon who can’t evolve are just terrible as a blanket statement, inherently worthless, etcetera,  _ right? _ Don’t be such a basic bitch, dude.” ...Even while genuinely ticked off, Calem couldn’t resist slipping a pun in if she could. 

 

Lysandre, of course, kept his cool. “True, my dear metamour-- or at least, the sarcasm is understood as such. The fact remains that such Pokémon  _ are _ typically less powerful in battle than those who have undergone evolution. For every Snorlax there are ten Luvdisc, if not more. All the sarcasm in the world shall not convince professional Battlers to take a Luvdisc seriously.” 

 

“I dunno, I feel like Gym Leader Wallace might disagree,” Calem said. She never fought him, but she’d seen Luvdisc on his rotating Gym Battle Roster a few times when she’d lived in the area and kept up with all of that. 

 

Finally, Lysandre actually reacted to Calem-- after a moment, he barked a laugh and added, “Serious battlers, then.” Rude. “In that vein, I wonder how widespread the ability to Mega Evolve is. Were you aware that our dear Augustine, charming as he is, has never managed to personally harness the power he’s devoted his life to studying?”

 

She hadn’t been, but Calem was a bit busier trying to figure out what Lysandre was  _ actually _ getting at to care about miscellaneous personal trivia. “Are you…” She huffed a breath and thought for a moment more before continuing again. “Lysandre, are you  _ actually _ calling your boyfriend weak?” 

 

Another laugh from Lysandre, this one less harsh than before. “Yes and no. As you would be quick to point out, I’m sure, he does have many virtues. The issue at hand is that none of those virtues happen to include battling. He’s a marvel of a man, to be sure, but will he ever unlock his potential? Will you, or will I?” He paused, then. “Figuratively, of course. In a literal sense, that’s a matter of past tense for you, with regards to Mega Evolution.” 

 

...Calem was beginning to suspect Lysandre was buzzed, given how this conversation had wandered. For that matter, how did he even have her number? Augustine had seen how well the two of them didn’t get along, so it wasn’t likely through him. After an uncomfortably long time, Calem finally just said, “Okay?” to see if the line was even still open or if her Holo had maybe just glitched. 

 

“Food for thought,” Lysandre said, then abruptly hung up. 

 

“Right,” Calem said to the white noise glaring up at her from the now dead line on her Caster. She ruminated for a few minutes, snuggling against Marius as she thought. “That sounded… really fuckin’ creepy, right?” she asked her Lucario after a few minutes, but she didn’t really pay attention to his answer. 

 

Food for thought, he’d said. What thought was he trying to give her? Given the timing, this was probably some kind of response to her and Augustine’s relationship being acknowledged by the both of them, especially with the way Lysandre didn’t react to her knowing and… ‘metamour’? Calem couldn’t imagine Lysandre calling her anything involving ‘love’ unless it was some kind of pre-existing term. A quick internet search confirmed as much: a polyamory terms referring to one’s partner’s partner. 

 

The most obvious reaction would be some kind of threat, but… While the conversation was  _ concerning _ , Calem couldn’t figure any way to construe it as threatening her without a decent amount of stretching. It did, unfortunately, track all too well with that conversation in Café Lysandre when he had definitely been a bit tipsy with Augustine. Wash the earth clean of its filth, to make a new beautiful tomorrow… or something. 

 

If anything, though, it sounded like Lysandre was implying Calem might be one of the Chosen Few or whatever-the-fuck that Lysandre thought were Good Enough. Was… this maybe his fucked up way of welcoming Calem to their little circle? Calem kind of hoped not, because that would mean this was on the warmer end of Lysandre’s interactions with people, leaving him just a foul person all around. 

 

Weird guilt and attraction and avoidance and all that brain bullshit be damned. Calem dialed Augustine’s Holo, and impatiently awaited a response. 

 

“Allo? Ah, Calem, ma cherie!” Augustine’s hologram face crinkled into a smile. “I take it you’ve just made it to Anistar City, then?” 

 

Calem chewed her lip as she glanced away. “Nnnot… quite,” she eventually admitted. “Sue me, I wanted to find possible research specimens. Geological upheaval and all that, right?” 

 

A moment of silence as Augustine considered. “You’re not  _ actually  _ camping--” 

 

“Look, it’s fine, I prepared for this,” Calem interrupted, “Half my team is Fire type and the other half is fuzzy as shit, and I don’t really plan on doing much more than dozing, gonna move as soon as it’s light. That’s not why I called though-- Augustine, have you talked to Lysandre much lately?” At the end of that Calem took a deep breath, and hoped her speed in rambling had at least managed to change the topic. 

 

Augustine frowned. “Have I… Cale, why do you ask?” 

 

“Why do you  _ think _ , dude? He called me, and… I really don’t know quite what he was saying, I think he might have been a little bit drunk.” 

 

“I… see?” Augustine said, but it was clear that he didn’t, not really. 

 

“And he was like,” Calem added, “still  _ very _ focused on like-- on people who are Worthwhile and those who Are Not and he brought you up, and I don’t know. We don’t get along, him and I, but I don’t know. I’m somewhere between worried  _ about _ him and worried about what he might  _ do  _ if he ever decided to act on what he feels.” 

 

Tilting his head, Augustine said, “Calem, I agree that Lys can come off badly at times, but you were the one who said you thought he’d had something to drink. I’m sure he didn’t mean whatever it was, given. I’m still sorry you had--” 

 

“ _ Really _ ?” Calem cut him off. “You’re going to use  _ that _ ? Professor, how many times have you been around drunk people? Don’t-- don’t try to actually answer that, that’s not the  _ point _ . I just mean in, in my various stints at unis and in field work and trying to flirt with secretaries, I’ve talked with a lot, and worked with them later, and you know. And those guys who used the n word when drunk? Most of them used it sober, when they thought no one would care. Same with faggot, same with… whatever.” 

 

“I’m… sorry to hear you’ve had to work alongside some very rude people,” Augustine said. 

 

“Rude? That’s all you can--” Calem stopped herself, held a hand up to her Caster’s camera to show she’d paused, and took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Okay, look. I just thought you’d like to know about all this. Just thought maybe it would be good to say, ‘hey, talk to him or something he seems weird’. But it’s no skin off my back if you won’t take my advice, right?” 

 

Augustine sighed. “I never said I wouldn’t talk to him, cherie. You’re being very combative towards nearly anything I seem to respond, though.” 

 

Calem huffed her indignation, then said, “I just think you should take his weird… eugenics-like leanings a little more seriously?” 

 

After a moment, Augustine nodded. “I’ll talk to him about it, I promise, mon petit choufleur. In the meantime, I didn’t intend to make you agitated-- quite the opposite, I assure you. Given that, and our, ah,” his voice hitched for a moment before he continued, “ _ encounter _ yesterday, I thought I should ask if there were boundaries you know of ahead of time that I should be wary of.” 

 

“Look… it’s only been a day.” Calem shrugged dramatically, mimicking Augustine’s own mannerisms. “I haven’t really thought about it--” More accurately, Calem had been  _ avoiding _ thinking about it, but he didn’t need to know that. “But honestly, I think I just… need time to get used to the idea, probably.” And the feel of everything, and… Well, she’d gotten used to having a crush on him in the first place, right? It would come, with time. 

 

... _ And so would he,  _ her brain added, and Calem couldn’t help but snicker to herself. 

 

“Which, of course, is not a problem,” Augustine said. “Take as much time as you need, mon beau. If you never feel comfortable, I won’t be any less pleased to be with you.” 

 

Calem laughed ruefully. “You  _ say _ that, but I don’t know if I believe you, and I don’t know how much of  _ that _ is part of my brain being terrible and how much is something I should be Legitimately Concerned about.” 

 

Augustine gave a lopsided smile and said, “I see. I’d assure you that I’m being quite genuine, but if you doubt my truth, by that logic anything I say is in question.” 

 

“ _ Right? _ ” Calem said, perhaps too emphatically. “Anxiety brain: damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” She heaved a breath and shrugged,  _ again,  _ but she wasn’t sure how else to continue. 

 

It seemed Augustine wasn’t entirely keen to continue that line of thought, either, since after a moment he asked, “So, you’re... safe where you are, for the night? Shelter, warmth, food?” 

 

Calem rolled her eyes, but grinned. “I thought I already told you that, you doofus. I’m  _ fine-- _ though I guess Gryff could probably use a break by now.” The Pyroar was engulfed in the red light of the Pokéball’s recall mechanism, and in a moment, Tiamat took his place. “I’ve got my kids on rotation, so no one gets too cold or worn-out, even if--oh!” Calem blinked owlishly at the holo vid in front of her. “I said I’d tell you about Fatale, right?” 

 

Augustine’s brows knitted and he looked at Calem for a long, hard moment before saying, “I’m… not sure I like where this is going, cherie.” 

 

“What? I don’t--” Calem went over what she’d been saying, and realized the mental steps she’d left out of her words. “Oh. No, nothing like that, Tiamat just reminded me that I’d really love to have Femme Fatale’s Flame Body right now, I didn’t like… leave her out in the cold or anything! Arceus that sounded bad though, didn’t it?” 

 

Facial features still looking more reserved than usual-- even if it was hard to tell for sure on Calem’s miniature hologram-- Augustine said, “I see. So how  _ did _ she die, then?” 

 

”It’s…” Calem started, then looked to the side. “I chose her as a safe word not because of  _ how _ she died-- she took a nasty hit in a battle, I guess I didn’t get her to a Pokémon Center in time, or maybe it was too bad of a hit, or maybe I’d pushed her too hard… I don’t know. She didn’t come back out from the Center, is all that I really know. I chose her name because she’s the only Pokémon I’ve lost due to anything but old age-- the stray Kantoan Meowth that my mom found by our trash can in Alola before I was even born, or the Meowth I had before uni in Unova… pets die of old age, I hate it but I get it, but… I don’t know, I figured if I was feeling bad enough to want out, that pulling up an image of the Pokémon who is dead  _ because _ of her time with me would… I dunno, overpower the guilt of letting you down.” 

 

Augustine listened quietly, and nodded. “I can’t say I follow that logic, but I do believe I have a better understanding of you, ma choupinette, at least.” 

 

“Better understandings all around! You get an understanding, and  _ you _ get an understanding!” Calem pantomimed throwing something in various directions, causing both Marius and Oracle to look up at her curiously. “Arceus, though. I’m glad  _ you _ understand me, Augustine, at least somewhat, because I sure fucking don’t.” 

 

“Now don’t sell yourself short, Calem,” Augustine said, “I’m sure you’ve a better idea of yourself than that.” 

 

Shrugging, Calem said, “Yeah, sure, whatever you say. Introspection is  _ definitely _ my forté, and my self-image is more nuanced than a teen drunk who hates sitting still and loves the three f’s a little too much, even if ‘flight’ wins out over ‘fight’ more often than not.” 

 

“Three… F’s?” Augustine asked, puzzled. 

 

“Food, fucking, and fighting,” Calem said. “And I’m no  _ good _ but I do like the battles, I mean, I couldn’t be professional but I’ve done several official Leagues now, and one unofficial, even if I haven’t  _ finished _ any but Johto’s.” 

 

With a solemn nod, Augustine said, “I see. ...Do please work hard on your current League challenge, ma cherie. I should love to see you do well, and you’ve made very good progress already. Only two more Gyms until you can challenge the Elite Four, on one hand; on the other, your geological study would go well with being one of my field interns, and your wanderlust, I believe.”

 

Calem raised an eyebrow and grinned down at her Caster. “Daw, does widdle Sycamore miss me already?”

 

“I wouldn’t say that so much as…” Augustine hesitated. “I’m worried for you, Calem. I know you’ve prepared, but spending the night without a permanent shelter above your head in the Mamoswine Pass sounds like a recipe for disaster.” 

 

“What the--Augustine, no, don’t  _ say _ things like that!” Calem barked. 

 

“Things like what?”

 

“Things like-- ‘oh gee it would be terrible if this awful thing happened to you.’ Or ‘gee it would be nice if this good thing happened to me’. You’ll jinx it! Or hell, are there Jynx the Pokémon here?  _ They _ might spelled-with-an-i-’jinx’ it if you haven’t.” 

 

“O-oh,” Augustine started to reply, “I see--” 

 

But Calemine cut him off. “Nope, I don’t want to hear it. I’m hanging up before you cause an av--shit. Before  _ either _ of us say something and the luck particles of the universe coalesce around me and fuck shit up. Bye, love ya, but I gotta go.” 

 

It wasn’t until Calem’s Holo Caster clicked as the line went dead that she realized what she’d said. ...Did he catch that? Did she mean it? 

 

Well, that was a problem she could deal with tomorrow. For now, she opened up the alarm app she’d downloaded onto her Caster and set it for about an hour’s time. Didn’t want to sleep deeply here, but after switching Oracle out for Capt. Falcon, Calem had two fairly-fresh fire-types and a fuzzy steel-type who was resistant to cold and  _ really _ liked to cuddle, so a nap sounded like just the ticket. 

 

In the morning, she’d make it to Anistar, she’d take on the Gym there, and maybe she would  _ finally _ beat Serena in a battle. The last was optional, but Calem was feeling pretty hopeful, snuggled into the thick fur on Marius’s back. Tomorrow would be the beginning of the end of her journey. 


	23. Chapter 23

The Anistar City Gym wasn’t hard to spot, once Calem passed through the gate separating the city with the snowy mountain pass. Before even healing her Pokémon, she ran for the building, to begin strategizing. Her aching feet could just shove it for a few more minutes, she was too far behind--

 

Speak of Darkrai and he shall appear, Calem thought, for as she approached the gym who should step out but Serena. Shauna didn’t seem to be with her for now, but the way she was flushed and grinning, Calem could guess how she’d fared inside.

 

“Oy, stranger!” Calem called when she was a bit closer. “Wanna battle?”

 

Serena blinked. “Oh, uh, hi Calem, I actually need to heal--”

 

Calem waved a hand dismissively as she interrupted, “No big, I do too. Let’s both do that, yeah?” As Calemine turned around to walk with Serena towards the Pokémon Center the former had just passed, Calem continued, “I was just checking out the gym before I did… looks like you’ve had time to do more than that, though? Where’s your shiny new Badge?”

 

Serena grinned wider at that, and opened up her bedazzled Badge Case to show Calem, who whistled.

 

“Looks pretty nice,” Calemine said, “and you’re almost done! Just because I don’t have that badge yet doesn’t mean I can’t beat you, though.”

 

With a roll of her eyes, Serena said, “Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

 

“H-hey!” Calem’s steps faltered, legitimately surprised and insulted for a moment, but… “I say, now I say, I resemble that remark.” She’d gotten the Mega Ring and Keystone back at the Tower of Mastery, but had Serena actually battled Calem for it like Gurkinn had suggested, Calemine had no doubt the younger girl would have won it from her.

 

Calem _had_ tried to send Sycamore some specific results that Serena might not have been able to get, and the whole deal with the differing Mega Charizard forms-- well, Calem didn’t actually have the Charizardite X yet, so named for the characteristic x-shaped whorl of color inside each stone. So… It was still mostly just nepotism, at this point. Whoops.

 

After the girls got their teams healed, they stepped outside to battle.

 

It was closer than Calem had ever been to beating Serena. The smaller girl was more willing to stick with a bad type-matchup than Calem was, but predicting how flighty Calem was about switching one team member out for another ended up being the more experienced, if apparently less skilled, girl’s downfall.

 

Only Serena’s Greninja was left conscious, having taken out poor Ironbark with good predictions of when Spiky Shield would and wouldn’t be used, and who’d been worn down a bit before that, anyway.

 

“I...really thought I had you, there,” Calem said, a bit out of breath from the adrenaline still coursing through her system.

 

Serena was grinning, again, still-- it didn’t really matter which. “You nearly did!” she said. “You should be just fine to take on Olympia-- though maybe don’t b ring Ironbark, he wouldn’t do well. Other than that-- well, your switching is fine for League matches.

 

“Yeah, I know, I know. Where do you think I picked up the habit? I don’t really… get much into the general Player-versus-Player level of battle strategy, it’s…” Calem waggled her hand in the air. “Better than I used to be, though.”

 

With a nod, Serena said, “You are! Even since we started last, what, Early fall? You’ve improved. Keep it up, or you’ll be in trouble when we’re at the League Castle, though, fighting for championship, no switching, no items… Should be fun.”

 

Calem blinked. “I’m glad you think I can make it past the E-Four, honestly. I’d love to, but I don’t… have very high hopes.” She sighed and shrugged, then gestured back towards the Pokémon Center. “Come on, let’s get our teams healed back up so you can be on your way, and I can beat the gym and catch you up.”

 

Just then, though, they both got a call on their Holo Casters. The girls looked at each other in confusion, and fumbled for the devices. About when they’d gotten them out, the devices opened the line without any input from them.

 

* * *

 

“Augustine, mon coeur,” Lysandre said the other man’s name just louder than a breath. “I have… something for you, if you have a spare moment to go somewhere more private.”

 

The fact that Lysandre was in front of Sycamore’s desk in person made the answer to the summons a guarantee, at least in polite company. Not that Augustine would have turned down Lysandre at all-- they’d seen so little of each other lately, spoken so little lately. Augustine missed him, and according to Calem, Lysandre might be doing the worse for it.

 

“Of course!” Augustine said, standing up from his desk abruptly once he realized he’d been ruminating rather than reacting. “Of course, mon--” Just in time, Augustine remembered he and Lysandre were still in the public part of his laboratory, even if it was the third floor. There may be an intern studying or something, someone that Lysandre wouldn’t want overhearing sweet nothings. “--Mon amie,” he finished. “Up to my loft then?”

 

Lysandre shook his head. “No, part of my… offer, I suppose, includes showing you something I cannot bring with me. Let us depart, if you will.”

 

“Allons-y, then!” Augustine said, and followed his little lion-headed man, not even really paying attention to where Lysandre led him for excitement at spending time with him and admiring the bright red mane Lysandre maintained so carefully.

 

It was with a start that Augustine realized they were in Café Lysandre. “Is this really more private than--?” He stopped talking, though, as Lysandre continued walking, right up to the fine porcelain cabinet by the wall. The latter seemed to murmur something, and… air whined out of the pneumatic pumps as the panel of wall that the shelves were attached to slid aside.

 

Lysandre clasped Augustine’s hand and smiled-- not broad, not even very noticeable, but genuine. There was a light to the man’s bright blue eyes that Augustine hadn’t seen-- or at least hadn’t noticed-- for a while. A slight tug, and Augustine was following Lysandre, the downward slope of the hallway and the darkness making him wonder-- what could possibly be here? Augustine had thought the area between Lysandre’s Fleur de Lis Labs and the Café had been contracted by someone else…

 

They finally arrived on a landing, part of what looked to be a much larger room. “Mon Sycomore,” Lysandre said, “I have brought you here to ask you for… several things. As you can see, I have not been entirely forthright with you up to this point.” Lysandre gestured towards the room, filled with electronic panels and busy people going about their business, dressed in… Fashionably cut but unusually bold bright-orange suits. “Team Flare has been my project for some years now. I knew you would not approve in the early stages, hence the subterfuge. But now, today, my plan is finally ready.”

 

There was a pause in Lysandre’s speech, but Augustine’s heart was in his throat. _This couldn’t be happening._

 

Lysandre released Augustine’s hand, then, and pulled something out of his pocket-- a small, black velvet-covered box. It fit in the palm of Lysandre’s hand, and as he got down on one knee, he opened it to reveal-- Augustine’s own Keystone, fastened to a gold band. “Augustine, mon coeur. Would you join me as my partner, together in this bleak world-- to fight the good fight, arm in arm, side by side?”

 

“W-would,” Augustine managed, though his throat was dry, his feet unsteady, slowly backing up towards-- nowhere in particular, really. “Would you dissolve Team Flare if I do?”

 

Lysandre lowered the box out of Augustine’s reach, but left it open. “No,” he said, calmly, and slowly shook his head.

 

“Is there any chance,” Augustine continued, “you would if I turned you down?”

 

Again, Lysandre shook his head, but now closed the ring box. “My plan is nearly in motion, Augustine. I will save the world. I know you don’t agree with my methods, but I was hoping you would join me so you could at least see the results.”

 

“Lysandre,” Augustine said, and again, “ _Lysandre_ …” He couldn’t form words as he shuffled backwards, then stumbled on the upward slope of the ramp, and fell. This knocked him out of his stupor at least somewhat, and with one last look at Lysandre, he said, “I-- I can’t,” and fled.

 

* * *

 

 

“I'm sorry, those of you who are not members of Team Flare, but this is adieu to you all." Lysandre’s face disappeared as their Holo Casters automatically ended the call.

 

Everything seemed quiet. Serena and Calem both were stunned, of course, but the whole city seemed paralyzed-- from the echoey quality of Lysandre’s call, distantly from all sides, it… had probably been simultaneously broadcast across all Holo Casters at once. The region was taking its last breath, before the planet suffered a cosmic stroke.

 

“We have to stop this.” Serena’s face had a hard edge to it, angry but focused-- determined. “Where-- we only ever saw him in Lumiose, right? I don’t think we’d have clearance to go into his lab, but there’s his Café, maybe we can find some clues there?”

 

Calem’s hand balled into a fist, which then pressed against her lips as she tried to process. “Augustine…”

 

Serena blinked at Calem, then snapped, “What? Well, whoever it is, that’s not _important_ right now. We’ll save them, when we _stop that madman._ ”

 

‘We’? How could a teenager and a college wannabe take down a multimillion Pen corporation, that _apparently_ actively meddles in the criminal underworld besides? They could _die_. If all of their Pokémon fainted, there would be nothing stopping these grunts-- who aren’t just on the wrong side of the law this time, but literally planning on causing some kind of apocalypse event anyway-- from just setting their Pokémon on whatever poor trainer thought they could attack a whole organization.

 

Rising star trainers had done similar things in the past. Red, most notably, but so had May of Hoenn and siblings Ethan and Crystal in Johto. They made the history books, became the idols for young trainers, hoping for an extra adventure with their regional romp through the kid-friendly gyms.

 

The poor sods who only made it part way through didn’t make the history books. They made the nightly news, for sure, and with the internet growing as fast as it did, news that Calem would never have cared about when she was barely more than a toddler living in a Unovan air force base in Sinnoh, from halfway across the world when the movies and television in Unovan Ingrish were few and at least six months late-- what had been a far-flung world within Calem’s own lifetime was now constantly at one’s fingertips. Orre was especially bad, but any region that showed any signs of organized crime activity… with a few careful searches, Calem had easily found the news reports and a few unnecessarily gory pictures.

 

Except for Team Flare. _So far._ Still, those late-night searches, when Calem couldn’t sleep for thinking of how she’d failed in the Pokéball Factory, came to mind now.

 

Serena had… largely not even needed Calem’s help, back on Christmas, though.

 

“Here,” Calem said, as she dug out as many potions as she could hold and shoved them towards Serena. “I-I-I can’t, I can’t, but _you can_.” After that, Calem released Tiamat from her Pokéball, scrambled on her back, and urged her to fly to Sycamore Laboratory. “As--as fast as you can.”


	24. Chapter 24

No one at the lab seemed to know where Augustine was. For that matter, no one seemed to know where Sina and Dexio, were, either, which were Calem’s next guesses as to who might help her figure it out. 

 

Cautiously, Calem sidled up to Magenta Plaza, trying to get sidelong glances at Café Lysandre without being too clearly interested in it. She didn’t want to be anywhere near there, but… would Augustine? He was suave, cool and collected even when upset or at a disadvantage. Perhaps a bit theatrical when the time was right, but had been the rock that Calem had tied herself to since-- since the Pokéball Factory incident. He might have gone looking for trouble.

 

As much as Calem wanted to help Augustine deal with-- with whatever he might be feeling right now, there were a lot of options, frankly-- when she caught sight of the cabinet at the back of the Flare-red café, and the dark hallway it no longer concealed… She turned and ran. 

 

After that, it was guesswork, at best. To be honest it was more like ‘wandering around the city in shock’. There wasn’t even much hope of finding the Professor, Calem thought. He mostly did things in his lab here in Lumiose, but with the Fleur de Lis labs right here in Lumiose, not far from Sycamore,’s own lab, with Augustine having cooperated with him on research recently, not to mention  _ was his long time boyfriend. _ He had to have done something, gone somewhere that Calem wouldn’t be willing to follow. 

 

Or… not. Calem nearly had to do a double-take when she saw Augustine, hunched over a cup of coffee in Café Soleil. 

 

“Hey…” Calem walked over to Augustine and sat down. “How’re y--” 

 

“I know,” Augustine said roughly. 

 

Calemine blinked in confusion. “What?” 

 

“I  _ know _ ,” Augustine repeated, more emphatically this time. “You… were right. All along, he was right in front of me, but… so far away.” 

 

“No, no…” Calem searched for words, searched Augustine’s face-- it had been so bright only a few days ago, even last night it had seemed tired, worried for her sake perhaps, but overall content-- and now it was… not tear-stained, like Calem had expected, or creased over and over with a million and one emotions. 

 

Augustine’s face was flat, pale, and… somehow off. A wax figure seemed to sit and breathe and speak to Calem. 

 

Calem reached out to touch his hands, folded over his mostly-full coffee cup, but he jerked away at the contact. The cup was jostled, and some of the coffee sloshed out, but Augustine didn’t seem to notice. 

 

After wiping up what she could with a napkin, Calem just kept her hands to herself. “Sorry… for everything.” 

 

“What could  _ you _ possibly have to be sorry for?” Augustine asked, with the first notable inflection in his tone since Calem had found him here. “You were right. You told me, and I didn’t listen. I didn’t want to see the signs, and now… because of me…” 

 

While most of that was  _ factually true _ , it probably wasn’t helpful right now. But Calem didn’t know what possibly  _ could _ be helpful, since the truth was so damning. “Do you… know where Sina and Dexio are?” Calem asked. Maybe they’d be better at dealing with this. 

 

Augustine nodded. “They messaged me a few minutes ago. I think they are investigating Lysandre’s underground laboratories with Serena.” 

 

“Oh,” Calemine said. “That’s… good.” 

 

“ _ No _ , it’s not!” Augustine thumped a fist against the table to punctuate his snapping tone. “It’s-- my--” He lowered his voice again, and looked into Calem’s eyes-- for the first time this conversation, she belatedly realized-- and he continued, “My would-be-fiancé is being pursued by my boyfriend and girlfriend… Lysandre asked me to marry him. Just before that broadcast, he… wanted to keep me, but causing the apocalypse is more important than keeping me, with him or-- or alive at all. What part of this, ma cherie Calem, would you consider  _ good _ ?” 

 

Calem gulped. “No, I guess not. Sorry,” she said, softly. 

 

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Eventually, Calem said, “Here, let me get you another coffee, that one’s gone cold.” Not to mention the cup’s rim had been picked at, bits of paper from the picking were floating in the drink, and the cup itself had been slightly squished from being squeezed too hard. 

 

She came back with it-- this time making sure there was a plastic lid to go with it, at least to  _ somewhat  _ discourage the picking. Calem made sure not to touch Augustine’s hand with hers this time, but she nudged the paper cup into it, and he did take it. “Come on, drink up,” she said, and he listened. 

 

For several more minutes, she sat drinking her own drink, until she got a call on her Holo Caster. When she picked it up, Serena was on the other end of the line. “Calem! I know what you said, but we need you. Sina and Dexio are calling the other kids, to see if they can make it, but we need as many hands as we can get, right now. Shauna’s already set off-- the labs beneath the Café were important, but not  _ the _ site. I guess Geosenge is where the Ultimate Weapon really is-- I have a guess as to where, but if the labs here weren’t even heavily guarded… Calem, we need you in Geosenge, as soon as possible. You and anyone else you can convince quickly, but if not, just  _ get there _ . Okay?” 

 

Calem needed a moment to take all the information in, but eventually nodded. “Uh, yeah… okay, I’ll get there.” 

 

Serena acknowledged, and signed off. 

 

Looking up, Calem started to say, “So, uh, Aug--” and then caught the dead-eyed stare he was leveling at her. Right, that was going to be an  _ incredibly _ insensitive question. Time to redirect. “I-- I need to go. Don’t beat yourself up  _ too  _ bad… okay?” 

 

Augustine blinked slowly at Calem. “I think you’re expecting some kind of grim humor banter, non? I’m afraid you’re not going to get it.” 

 

Calem took a deep breath. The longer she stayed here, the more she hurt him. “Goodbye, Augustine,” she said, and quickly left the café. Then, for the second time that day, she was flying top-speed on the back of her Charizard. 

  
  



	25. Chapter 25

“Wait!” Calem was running nearly as soon as her Charizard touched down, though she stumbled-- and was reminded she’d gotten no more than three hours of sleep last night, in the mountain pass. Was that really…? It felt like forever ago. 

 

Again, Calem called out, “Wait!” as she tried to catch up to Serena, who was heading the only structure left in Geosenge that was whole after the ‘blooming’ of the Ultimate Weapon. 

 

Finally, Serena heard Calem and turned to acknowledge her. “Glad you’ve come. I don’t know when anyone else will be here. Sina and Dexio are in those silly Rangers of Kalos getups and trying to help man a search-and-rescue effort. I don’t know what Trevor and Tierno will choose to do-- both groups sorely need them, so it’s a toss-up. Shauna should be here, eventually, but we don’t have time to wait around any longer. Got it?” 

 

“Yessir,” Calem said reflexively as she fell into step behind the shorter, younger girl.

 

Serena snorted. “No need to be sarcastic, especially not now. If you have tactical advice I’d love to hear it, but leave battle strategies to me.” 

 

Calem started to say another, “Yessi--” but caught herself. “S-sorry, not being sarcastic. Just stressed.” 

 

Down an elevator, and the two of them spilled out into a very high-tech looking control deck. 

 

"The ultimate weapon's flower has finally bloomed above the soil,” came Lysandre’s voice, booming from a podium. “Don't you find its beauty... captivating?” He gestured broadly, and sighed. “As we speak, it draws its energy from the Legendary Pokémon. Ah, and Serena! I apologize that the weapon was unearthed even after you chose correctly in the lab. But conflicting egos drive this world--things don't always go the way you want!"

 

Calem hissed a quick  _ “What?” _ at Serena. 

 

“He gave me a stupid ‘test’, I’ll tell you more later,” she answered. 

 

After nodding her affirmative, Calem walked forward and raised her voice louder. “You know, things  _ could _ have gone the way you wanted, been together with him, if you hadn’t thought all this--” Calem gestured sharply at their general surroundings-- “was a  _ good fucking idea _ .” 

 

At which it was Serena’s turn to ask Calem what was going on. “I dunno if it’s actually my place to say,” Calem whispered back. “I’ll ask… the relevant party, after this is over.” 

 

Lysandre spoke over her anyhow, answering, “I’m not so selfish as to put my own attachments over the survival of our species as a whole. Those who turn down offers to be spared… There’s no room for them in our new world. And there must  _ be _ a new world, surely you can see that? The resources of this planet are limited… Perhaps, in some far-flung future, we may actually colonize the stars, like so many authors imagine. But in the here and now, human, animal, and Pokémon population growth is unchecked while the resources available remain static. Left to our own devices, those who lie and cheat and steal, are the ones who will keep the resources. Those who cling to moral purity? They fall.”

 

Serena rolled her eyes. “I doubt it’s worth reasoning with him. Let’s just go, he’s probably just stalling for time.” 

 

“I--” if Lysandre couldn’t be convinced by being turned down by the man he loves, then little else was likely to get through to him. “Yeah, that’s fair.” 

 

“Hah!” Lysandre barked a laugh. “You plan to change my mind with superior power then, yes? Is your approach really so different than mine?” 

 

“Just. Shut.  _ Up! _ Serena snapped. “You old codger, just stop. Calem, I think the door to the rest of the place is behind him. On three.” 

 

It took Calem a moment too long to understand  _ what _ it was she was supposed to do on three, so she sent out her Ampharos, Ashley, closer to the count of five or so than three. Still, Lysandre was facing two Pokémon at once, and his had apparently not been fully rested. It was… a little anticlimactic, honestly, though Calem wasn’t complaining. 

 

Serena grinned at Calem once they won. “So, that’s one less obstacle later, anyway. But we need to figure out how to shut that off as soon as possible, maybe sooner.” 

 

“We need it done five minutes ago?” Calem asked, trailing after Serena. 

 

With a scoff, Serena said, “You can it with the rambling, and jokes, and all that, too. We need to focus.” 

 

Sighing, Calem said “Yessir.”

 

* * *

  
  


When Shauna finally caught up with the other girls, Serena softened notably. “I’m so glad you’re here, hon,” Serena said, hugging Shauna tight. “No time for reunions, though, we need to go.” 

 

“I’ve got potions, though!” Shauna said, digging in her large purse. “Let’s take a moment to heal so we don’t have to revive anyone later, yeah?”

 

Calem sighed audibly. “Serena’s right, you’re an angel sent by Arceus itself.” 

 

Both of the other girls blushed at that, though Serena said, “Calem, still very much not the time for jokes.” 

 

Scratching her head, Calem said, “Sorry, sorry. Joking or breaking down in tears are my only two ways of dealing with stress, and the literal end of the world kind of goes so far into the bad that it’s hard to cry about!” Calem started laughing a little manically, though managed to tamp it down for now. “So-- I’m trying.” 

 

After a moment, Serena nodded. “So long as you’re taking the situation seriously, I suppose that’s all we can ask.” And after the girls healed up, they went onwards-- that much more quickly for having Shauna and her team to help them sweep through the various workers here. 

 

Eventually, though, they made it to a set of big, red doors with a keypad lock. 

 

“...So, try to blast through with all our Pokémon combined, then?” Calem asked. “There isn’t really time to search through pockets or question folks, is there?” 

 

At that, Shauna stepped up. “Nope, but I don’t think we’ll have to do  _ either _ of those things.” She looked at the ten-button number pad for a few moments, then tried a combination. It… failed. As did a few more, but then about the fifth or sixth one worked. “You’d really think they’d like, use gloves so the oil on their fingers didn’t wear away the printed numbers, but whatever. I guess they never figured someone would get this far in their base!” 

 

Calem nodded. “Well, I owe you twice over, now. So thanks.” 

 

Inside, there were five remaining Flare members to defeat, and a huge machine with what looked to be a giant, grey egg with black nodules along its surface. The three of the swept the grunts and Serena made it to the controls of the machine to deactivate it-- and flooding the area with the energy drained from the egg, or something to that effect, Calem figured. Cracks appeared on its surface, and it-- unfurled? Into… It looked awesome and powerful, at least fifteen or twenty feet when standing upright. But Calem couldn’t deny that it also looked an awful lot like bacon. The physical god of death or whatever it was that she’d read about this… Yveltal, right, that was it-- was also a giant bacon-bird. 

 

She was going to die, because she was opposing The Death And Also Bacon Bird. 

 

After Serena apparently didn’t just best the Bacon Bird in combat but actually  _ caught _ it-- Calem wasn’t sure why she was surprised, it was clear by now that Serena was in a class with Red and all the rest, most of who had, in fact, caught the legendary in question-- Lysandre appeared again, this time wearing some kind of… contraption. Calem didn’t know what else to call it. It almost looked like something Clemont would make, but the goggles if nothing else were very much in keeping with Flare’s terrible sense of fashion. 

 

This battle was significantly more difficult, as Lysandre was not only putting his all into winning, with three of his Pokémon out at once preventing Yveltal from just picking them off one by one-- but the contraption also somehow healed all of his Pokémon moderately quickly. Serena abandoned league rules as soon as the healing factor became apparent, and told the other girls to do the same, to just overwhelm Lysandre’s Pokémon with sheer numbers. 

 

Eventually, even Lysandre’s Mega Gyarados was down. The man ripped his goggles off and threw them to the ground in a fit of rage, but took a deep breath to calm himself before he stood back up to look around. 

 

Then he faced the girls again. “I should run, if I were you,” he said. “There’s enough residual power in this machine to fire a shot, but it would only affect this base. If you wish to die here, be my guest; but you have won, fair and square.” 

 

_ “What the fuck,”  _ Calem said, not really a question. “Shit. Guys, we need to scoot,  _ now! _ ” 

 

Shauna hesitated. “Can’t we stop that too, though?” 

 

Lysandre barked a laugh, and said, “The child is more interested in my welfare than my metamour. How froll.” He then took a small piece off of the backpack of his machinery-- still attached, even if his goggles weren’t-- and pressed a button. A moment later, there was a deep rumbling as the machine beside them powered up. “That was my remote detonator. You cannot stop the process now, you can only flee.” 

 

After a quick glance at their surroundings, Serena said, “Yes,  _ go _ !” 

 

So the trio started running. 

 

Before she turned the first corner, though, Calem took one last glance back at Lysandre, to see him… standing stock still, one hand on the machine, eyes cast upwards. She’d never forget the way he didn’t just wait for the end, he was determined to bring it on himself. 


End file.
